ARISE has successfully installed a 130 cm optical telescope at Devasthal, Nainital. The Rs. 140 crore Devasthal Optical telescope will be more powerful than the optical telescope at Girawali under the Pune based Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Banglore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysic’s telescope at hanle in leh and Vainu-Bappu observatory at kavalur in Tamil Nadu.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Devasthal telescope[/caption]
The cost of the devasthal telescope is about rs 120 crore, out of the 104-cm optical telescope is being used as amain observing facility by the Arise scientists since 1972. The cost of the Devasthal telescope is about Rs 120 crore, which the Belgium government is sharing about Rs 15 crore. Located at an altitude of about 2,400 metres above MSL, the site is as good as some of the world’s best sites. In partnership with other telescopes, at will offer astronomers a chance of watching an object countinously for 24 hours.
The unique position of Devasthal telescope, places it at almost in the middle of 1800 wide longitude band, between Canary Island and Eastern Australia, and therefore complements observation that might not be possible from either of these two places due to daylight.
Devasthal telescope will also act as a complimentary platform to the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Astrosat satellite, scheduled to be launched in 2012. Astrosat will be India’s first dedicated astronomy satellite.
Astosat would observe some objects from space, in X-ray, ultra-violet and radio wave lenths. Astronomers working at Devasthal Observatory would be able to study the sane objects from the ground in the optical range.
The Institute has two smaller telescopes of apertures 56-cm and 104-cm at Manora Peak in Nainital. There are two 15 cm telescopes dedicated for solar observations. The 104-cm optical telescope is being used as a main facility by the ARISE scientists since 1972.
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