Camping Beside Armenia’s Abandoned Orgov Radio-Optical Telescope
- leocook21
- Nov 6
- 3 min read
After days exploring Georgia, our journey ended in the Armenian mountains, camping beside the most extraordinary relic of Soviet astronomy: the Orgov Radio-Optical Telescope.
The Orgov Radio-Optical Telescope, also known as ROT-54 or the Herouni Mirror Radio Telescope, sits within the RRI Aragats Scientific Centre in Orgov, Armenia, on the slopes of Mount Aragats at an elevation of 1,711 metres.
Construction began in 1975 and was completed in 1985, with the telescope active from 1986 to 1990 before operations were halted. Restoration work began in 1995, but after a control arm failure immobilised the secondary mirror, the Armenian state could no longer afford repairs, and the site was abandoned in 2012.
Despite its short life, the observatory made remarkable contributions to astronomy; recording an explosion of a red giant star (the twin of the constellation Gemini), and producing several studies published in Soviet and international journals.
International Sleeper Train & Reaching the Telescope
Leaving Tbilisi on a Thursday evening, we took the sleeper train across the Georgian border into Armenia, arriving in Yerevan early on Friday morning.
The day was spent wandering around the city of Yerevan, meeting some puppies outside an abandoned restaurant, and struggling to email someone I think worked for the Armenian state - in an attempt to get permission to visit the abandoned telescope near the village of Orgov.
Once we finally received the official letter in my emails, we jumped into the next available taxi out of Yerevan and up into the Aragats Mountains.
Exploring the Abandoned Observatory
At the entrance, a guard greeted us, and we showed him our permission letter. Once inside, we realised we weren’t alone as a handful of photographers were already wandering the grounds with their tripods and cameras.
We even met some Russian YouTubers who’d relocated to Armenia and had quite a following. We ended up in their video, which can be seen here.
We spent a few hours exploring and photographing the telescope before sunset, under the condition we’d leave by 7pm.
Camping in the Mountains
As dusk set in, our new Russian friends kindly gave us a lift further down the mountain. Just far enough to avoid any curious bears or wolves in the night.
It was pitch black by the time we set up camp in a grassy but rocky spot. The temperatures had dropped sharply on this day, compared to over our time in Georgia, which had nice warm days of 25–30°C. Here, it was around 9°C overnight.
A dog barked at our tents around 11pm, but apart from that, it was surprisingly peaceful, and I actually managed to sleep.
We woke at sunrise, packed up, and began walking down the mountain to see if we could reach some kind of civilisation. Eventually, our taxi app connected us to a driver in a nearby village, just waking up himself, who picked us up and drove us straight to the airport, marking the end of our 11-day journey across Georgia and Armenia.
This journey might be over, but I have a feeling it won't be my last time in exploring the Caucasus.
Photo Gallery
For the full gallery showcasing my digital photography from this location, scroll through the images below.
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