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| IRIDA observatory | ||||||
| IRIDA’s official birthday is October 24, 2012, marking the moment when its first astroimage, known as "first light," was captured. | ||||||
| Scientific researches and results: | ||||||
Soon after the construction of the IRIDA observatory, the scientific program was launched. The IRIDA observatory team conducts observations and research in the fields of Astrophysics and Cosmology. We are currently part of the research team in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Shumen, Bulgaria, as well as its Astronomical Observatory. Our current projects include:
Most of our research focuses on short-period contact eclipsing binary stars of the W UMa (EW) type. We perform a complete analysis and modeling of the obtained photometric light curves, with the primary goal of estimating the absolute physical parameters of the stellar components. So far, we have published our results in numerous scientific manuscripts in prestigious peer-reviewed jurnals. For a list of published articles, see the Scientific researche section).
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| A few words about us: | ||||||
Emil Ivanov I am an opera singer living in Varna, Bulgaria with my wife Daniela and the east-european short haired tom-cat Ronnie (O’Sullivan). From an early age I was fascinated by the stars and the opera. When I was nine years old I built my first "telescope" - from a single spectacle lens and an opera binoculars objective. At first I decided to study astronomy and was admitted to the Sofia State University, where I studied for two years. At this time I started to develop a singing talent and switched to the Music Academy which I finished five years later. Then begun my operatic career which for more than 20 years led me in the greatest opera stages of the world. Of course at that period because of my busy schedule I had no much time to watch the stars, but my passion for astronomy remained forever.
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Velimir Popov I am a mining engineer living in Sofia, Bulgaria, with my wife, Irina. I founded my own mining company, which has been operating for more than twenty years in the fields of geological research, complex mining design, and the extraction of decorative stones from our own quarries. My passion for astronomy dates back to my childhood, fueled by reading science fiction books and attempting to build my own telescopes.
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| Idea and construction of IRIDA observatory | ||||||
The name of our observatory in Bulgarian is IRIDA (or or in Greek IRIS). In Greek mythology, the goddess Iris is the personification of the rainbow and the messenger of the gods. She also serves as a link between the gods and humanity. However, the name of our observatory carries another symbolic meaning - it is an abbreviation of our wives' names, Irina and Daniela (IRI-DA). Naming the observatory this way is a gesture of gratitude for their support. We began our collaboration on deep-sky imaging around 2010. Our paths crossed at a star party at the Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory in Bulgaria, where we discovered our shared passion for astronomy. We quickly became friends and started visiting the Rozhen Observatory regularly. For two years, from April to November, during moonless periods, we traveled there each month. Using our equipment in the so-called "Portable mode," we had to disassemble it after each session and set it up again for the next star party. The idea of establishing a remotely controlled observatory emerged during one of our two-person star parties in November 2011, amid the freezing nights at Rozhen Observatory. We were cold, our telescopes were frozen… It didn’t take long for us to conceive the idea of building an observatory with remote control capabilities. This would allow us to conduct observations from anywhere in the world. With internet access, we could operate the observatory using various devices, including desktop and portable computers, tablets, smartphones, and more. Then the hard work began—planning, ordering equipment, and assembling everything. Eventually, we built an observatory consisting of two astronomical domes, fully equipped for remote control and featuring semi-robotic capabilities:
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| Copyright: Velimir Popov and Emil Ivanov 2023. All Rights Reserved | ||||||
| e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org | ||||||
