Registration to the Symposium will be held in the main building of the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Monday 19th September, from 18:00 to 21:00. A welcome aperitif with snacks will be offered during registration. Registration will also be available on Tuesday September 20th from 8:00 to 9:00 at the conference venue.

The Institute is located on the Kutuzova embankment of the Neva River in a historical building dating back to the begining of 19th century. In 1892 the house was purchased by the government of the French Republic, and for many years it became the residence of the Embassy. In the early nineties of the twentieth century, the building was handed over to the Institute and became its headquarters. Currently the laboratories of theoretical astronomy, as well as administrative staff are located in this building. The correlation and data processing center was created in 2006.

Conference dinner will take place in the Palace of Grand duke Vladimir (Academics House) on Wednesday 21th September, from 19:00 to 22:00. Dinner will include transportation, a buffet dinner with drinks and entertainment. Before the dinner a half-hour tour of the palace will be offered. The conference dinner has a limit on the number of participants. Priority will be given to the participants who have registered earlier. Please book your ticket when registering.

One of the last Imperial palaces to be built in St.Petersburg, the Palace of Grand Duke Vladimir was built between 1867 and 1872 for the third son of Emperor Alexander II. The palace's simple, somewhat dour facade is in stark contrast to the wonderfully preserved interiors, where the architects employed a hugely eclectic range of styles and periods, from neo-gothic to rococo to oriental. Fortunately, soon after the October Revolution, the Vladimir Palace was assigned as the Academics House, a social and cultural club for the scientists. For this reason, it has probably the most authentic and best preserved interiors of any of St. Petersburg's royal residences. While much of Vladimir's art collection has gone to the Hermitage collections and elsewhere, his impressive collection of fine porcelain is still mostly intact and on display in the palace.

Tour to the Observatory will be held on Thursday 22th September. The Observatory is located approximately in hundred kilometres to the North-West from Saint Petersburg. Buses will depart from the conference venue at 14:00. It is recommended to wear comfortable clothes and, in particular, to bring an extra layer (e.g. a wind jacket) since the weather at the Svetloe site can be quite cooler than that in St.Petersburg. Tour of the Observatory with the lunch buffet will be organized on the site.

"Quasar" VLBI network is a unique astronomical instrument created in the Institute of Applied Astronomy. The network consists of three radio astronomical observatories — Svetloe near St. Petersburg, Badary in Eastern Siberia and Zelenchukskaya in the North Caucasus connected with the Correlation Processing Center in St. Petersburg. The main instrument in each of three observatories is a 32-m radio telescope (RT-32), which provides a completely automatic process of observing the radio sources and satellites. Observations can be carried out both in radiometric mode, when the telescope is working alone, and in radio interferometric mode, when several telescopes operate synchronously in the same network.