YEREVAN, 27 DECEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The passing year was a year of highest efficiency for the Viktor Hambardzumyan Observatory of Byurakan over the past twenty years. This is what Director of the Observatory Hayk Harutyunyan said during a year-end press conference. “Starting from last year when the Government of the Republic of Armenia granted the Observatory the status of a National Scientific Center or national value, we have been able to carry out activities that have been impossible to carry out due to lack of funding over the past 20-25 years. The status also helped us add to our budget. We started solving problems that existed back in the 1980s. One of them was the updating of our material and technical base. The Observatory’s largest telescopes (2.6 meter and 1 meter telescopes) were renovated and will be operating,” the director of the Observatory said, as “ArmenPress” reports.

According to him, in spite of its small size, the 1 meter telescope is one of the world’s five largest telescopes. “That telescope hadn’t been functioning since 1989. This year, we managed to conduct experimental observations for the first time. I hope it will be fully used next year,” Hayk Harutyunyan mentioned.