Astronomy in the former Soviet Union 15 years after the breakup of the USSR

Abstract

During the immediate post-Soviet period, the main infrastructure of astronomy over the territory of the former Soviet Union (FSU) was saved, in spite of dramatic decreases in financial support. Overall the situation for FSU astronomy is now stable. In Latvia, the 32-m radio-dish is in working order. This allows it to participate in VLBI programmes. In Russia, all three 32-metre radio dishes of the QUASAR VLBI system are operational, as well as the 2-m telescope with a high-resolution spectrograph (up to resolution R≃ 500 000) and the horizontal solar telescope (R= 320 000) of the Russian-Ukrainian Observatory on Peak Terskol (Caucasus, altitude 3100 m). However the situation with the observatory itself is worrying, because of the regional authorities' attempt to privatize its infrastructure.

The process of equipping a number of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (including Russian) observatories with CCD-cameras is in progress. To solve staff problems, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have begun to prepare national specialists in astronomy, and the Baltic States, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine continue to prepare astronomers.

Teaching of astronomy at schools is obligatory only in the Ukraine and partially in the Baltic states. To maintain a “common astronomical area”, the Eurasian Astronomical Society (EAAS) continues its programme of reduced-price subscription to Russian-language astronomical journals and magazines in the territory of FSU, the organization of international conferences and Olympiads for school students, and lectures for school teachers and planetarium lecturers, etc.

Telescopes in Russia and other CIS territories permit to monitor an object more then 12 hours and can be used in global monitoring programmes. The Central Asian sites have some of the very best astro-climates in the world. They are similar to (or a little better than) the well known Chilean sites (median seeing 0.7^′′, very high fraction of clear nights, no light pollution and no high wind). It is imperative that these sites be protected and intensively used by the international astronomical community.