Formation of Iranian studies at the Kazan university (19th-early 20th centuries)

© the author(s). The article involves the historical and scientific study of the Iranian Cultural Heritage in Russia in the 19th century. It presents the background of the Persian language and literature teaching at Russian universities. Initiators and the ways the Iranian Studies developed at the Kazan University are mentioned. The historical events dealing with political and cultural relations of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region and Iran are summarized. It focuses on a variety of materials, covering the events, the heritage of Orientalists and Iranian scholars and results in the formation of Iranian Studies at the Kazan University in the 19th century. This research will provide valuable information regarding scientific and educational activities of Orientalists of the University, associated with teaching the Persian language, linguistic, literary, historical, ethnographic studies of the history and culture of Iran

A modern research for the Turkish ethnography

The urgency of the problem under study is caused by the need to consider the achievements of field researchers of the XIXth century from the standpoint of modern science. The purpose of the article is to characterize the research method of the ethnographer and folklorist Nikolai Katanov (1862-1922). The historical-genetic method is the leading one to the study of this problem. The main results of the research consist in the systematization of the unrecognized intellectual heritage from N. Katanov to the end and its analysis in the context of contemporary Turkish studies. The article is of interest to the experts who are involved in Eurasian studies, the history of Russia, the history of Oriental studies, anthropology and ethnography of the Turkish people of Central Asia.peer-reviewe

Teaching of Asian languages

The article presents the main stages and directions of East education and science establishment and development in Kazan during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They showed the role of the Kazan Gymnasium in the environment development for the training of experts in Eastern languages and their relevance in the academic environment of Russia during the 18th - 19th centuries. An important reason for the authority of the Kazan school on Oriental studies was the attention to the classical component and the priority of Oriental language practical study. The activities of the First Kazan Men's Gymnasium, opened in 1758, became the most important for the training of oriental personnel for the needs of the Ministry of Education, the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other Russian educational and scientific centers of the empire. The origins of Russian oriental studies were represented by the educational programs of the First Kazan Gymnasium associated with the Eastern languages, which became the basis for the research and humanistic traditions of Russian Oriental studies.peer-reviewe

Two New LBV Candidates in the M33 Galaxy

We present two new luminous blue variable (LBV) candidate stars discovered in the M33 galaxy. We identified these stars (Valeev et al. 2010) as massive star candidates at the final stages of evolution, presumably with a notable interstellar extinction. The candidates were selected from the Massey et al. (2006) catalog based on the following criteria: emission in Halpha, V<18.5 and 0.35<(B-V)<1.2. The spectra of both stars reveal a broad and strong Halpha emission with extended wings (770 and 1000 km/s). Based on the spectra we estimated the main parameters of the stars. Object N45901 has a bolometric luminosity log(L/Lsun)=6.0-6.2 with the value of interstellar extinction Av=2.3+-0.1. The temperature of the star's photosphere is estimated as Tstar~13000-15000K its probable mass on the Zero Age Main Sequence is M~60-80Msun. The infrared excess in N45901 corresponds to the emission of warm dust with the temperature Twarm~1000K, and amounts to 0.1% of the bolometric luminosity. A comparison of stellar magnitude estimates from different catalogs points to the probable variability of the object N45901. Bolometric luminosity of the second object, N125093, is log(L/Lsun)=6.3-6.6, the value of interstellar extinction is Av=2.75+-0.15. We estimate its photosphere's temperature as Tstar~13000-16000K, the initial mass as M~90-120Msun. The infrared excess in N125093 amounts to 5-6% of the bolometric luminosity. Its spectral energy distribution reveals two thermal components with the temperatures Twarm~1000K and Tcold~480K. The [CaII] lines (7291A and 7323A), observed in LBV-like stars VarA and N93351 in M33, are also present in the spectrum of N125093. These lines indicate relatively recent gas eruptions and dust activity linked with them. High bolometric luminosity of these stars and broad Halpha emissions allow classifying the studied objects as LBV candidates.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Optical observations of "hot" novae returning to quiescence

We have monitored the return to quiescence of novae previously observed in outburst as supersoft X-ray sources, with optical photometry of the intermediate polar (IP) V4743 Sgr and candidate IP V2491 Cyg, and optical spectroscopy of these two and seven other systems. Our sample includes classical and recurrent novae, short period (few hours), intermediate period (1-2 days) and long period (symbiotic) binaries. The light curves of V4743 Sgr and V2491 Cyg present clear periodic modulations. For V4743 Sgr, the modulation occurs with the beat of the rotational and orbital periods. If the period measured for V2491 Cyg is also the beat of these two periods, the orbital one should be almost 17 hours. The recurrent nova T Pyx already shows fragmentation of the nebular shell less than 3 years after the outburst. While this nova still had strong [OIII] at this post-outburst epoch, these lines had already faded after 3 to 7 years in all the others. We did not find any difference in the ratio of equivalent widths of high ionization/excitation lines to that of the Hbeta line in novae with short and long orbital period, indicating that irradiation does not trigger high mass transfer rate from secondaries with small orbital separation. An important difference between the spectra of RS Oph and V3890 Sgr and those of many symbiotic persistent supersoft sources is the absence of forbidden coronal lines. With the X-rays turn-off, we interpret this as an indication that mass transfer in symbiotics recurrent novae is intermittent.Comment: In press in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ