14-18 June, 2004, Rozhen, Bulgaria

   The world astronomical science is nowadays experiencing an extraordinary period of great changes and discoveries. The exploration of the Universe both from the ground and from the space has made colossal progress in revealing of the nature of the distant Universe. Clear signs for future development and progress also present: extremely large ground-based telescopes and a fleet of orbiting space explorers looking at the Universe in the whole spectrum. At the same time middle and small size telescopes provide long spectral and photometric data sets for studying the variability of many astronomical objects. The spectral observations with middle class telescopes are also very useful for determining of the fundamental parameters of the stars and for understanding the structure of their atmospheres, too.

    The collaboration among astronomers in the South-Eastern Europe has long tradition. In particular, there is a clear tendency the bilateral collaborations to grow up in multilateral ones. First steps in this direction were the meeting held at the Belogradchik Observatory, Bulgaria in September 2000 and the foundation of the South-Eastern Branch of the European Astronomical Union. Further progress was made in September 2003: Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey agreed officially to develop common research programs by using the 2m telescope and other observational facilities in the Bulgarian National Astronomical Observatory "Rozhen" (BNAO).

    In the filed of the astronomical education, despite of the very hard "brain-draining" from the region, the interest to all-levels astronomical studies continues. Our goals are to improve significantly the collaboration among the Balkan countries in the field of the university astronomical education. Some first steps in this direction were done: the South-East European Summer School for graduate and Ph.D. students from the region "Astronomy with Small Telescopes" was held in July 2003 at Belogradchik Observatory, Bulgaria.

    During the last years the Bulgarian Space Research Institute has achieved great success in Remote Sensing Earth investigations, Space biotechnology, Space physics and High-energy astrophysics and other research fields. The Bulgaria 1300 Satellite, Astronomical complex Rozhen and many other scientific implements were built. All these facts are promising that the collaboration of the Bulgarian space research investigators with the colleagues from other Balkan countries has a future.

    Motivated by all these positive developments, in order to promote discussions on the further collaboration among the countries in the region, the Institute of Astronomy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) in co-operation with the Institute for Space Research, BAS and the Department of Astronomy, Sofia University and together with colleagues from Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey, Greece and FYR of Macedonia decided to organize Balkan Astronomical Meeting (BAM).

    The meeting will take place in a remarkable for the Bulgarian astronomical community year: the 25th anniversary of the first space flight of the Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov, 25 years from the "first light" registered by the 2-m RCC telescope at BNAO "Rozhen" and 110th anniversary of the first Bulgarian observatory - the Observatory of the Sofia University. For this reason it is dedicated to these tree events. The BAM is also one of the initiatives of the South-Eastern Branch of the European Astronomical Society.

    The meeting will be held at the Bulgarian National Astronomical Observatory - Rozhen in the period 14-18 June, 2004. The main topics of the conference follow the idea to embrace as better as possible all field of the astronomical science where the researchers have already had good positions, namely: spectroscopy and photometry of single and binary stars and of stars in stellar aggregates, solar physics and small bodies in the Solar system, extra-galactic astronomy and cosmology, space astronomy and research, and astronomical instrumentation - ground-based and for space research. Additional topics could be included after expression of interest.

    The participants will be accommodated in the Guest House of the Observatory and the nearest hotel "Rozhen", 6 km away the Observatory. Transport to the Observatory and back will be provided. The prices in the hotel are of the order 20-30 Euro for a double room. Due to the small capacity of the Observatory and the hotel the number of the participants is limited to about 60. Participants with small incomes can apply for free of charge accommodation at the Observatory. The Organizing Committee will consider the applications. The participants will not be charged with registration fee. The Bulgarian institutions- organizers will cover the registration fee costs.

The organizers of the Conference welcome the colleagues from South-East Europe and outside to support this initiative and participate the meeting.

If you like to attend the Balkan Astronomical Meeting, please fill in the registration form enclosed at the end of the page and send it to bm2004@astro.bas.bg no later than March 31. Online registration can be done here

Institute of Astronomy, BAS
72 Tsarigradsko shosse blvd.
BG-1784 Sofia, Bulgaria
tel. +359 2 758927, +359 2 7144 269
fax: +359 2 758927
e-mail: bm2004@astro.bas.bg