A number of years ago, the nobel-prize winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda paid a visit to the Byurakan and wrote these comments in his Memoirs (1978:Penguin Books, New York, pg. 243.): “I shall never forget my visit to the astronomical observatory of Byurakan, where I saw the writing of stars for the first time. The trembling light of the stars was picked up; very fine mechanisms were taking down the palpitation of the stars in space, like an electrocardiogram of the sky. In those graphics I observed that each star has its own distinct way of writing, tremulous and fascinating, but unintelligible to the eyes of an earthbound poet” Unintelligible to the eyes of a poet, but as we have seen from this symposium, to the eyes of the astronomer, the phenomenon of flare stars is becoming more and more comprehensible. Before I came here to Byurakan I must confess that I (like Neruda) knew very little about the flare star phenomenon. As a result of this symposium I have learned much about these objects and now have a keen appreciation for their importance for studies of early stellar evolution. In this regard, I find it a particular priviledge and extremely appropriate to have a meeting on the subject of flare stars here at the Byurakan Observatory, where so much seminal work on this topic has been done. I have been impressed by the dedicated efforts of the astronomers at the Byurakan Observatory in flare star research. Their efforts represent an important contribution to galactic astronomy.
Rapid spike flares on AD Leo and EV Lac
