India, Belgium, Canada, Poland and Uzbekistan, have collaborated to build the International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT), India’s first liquid mirror telescope and the largest in Asia. It is the world’s first liquid-mirror telescope to be solely set up for astronomy and the only one of its kind to be operational anywhere in the world.
Located at Devasthal Observatory, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in Nainital, Uttarakhand, the ILMT will observe asteroids, supernovae, space debris and other celestial bodies from an altitude of 2,450 metres.
Most telescopes use glass mirrors, but ILMT’s mirror is made from a thin layer of liquid mercury that floats on 10 microns of compressed air and rotates every eight seconds. The rotation causes the liquid mercury to form a parabolic shape like a contact lens, allowing the telescope to focus light from deep space. The ILMT is fixed in a single position, so it only observes one strip of the night sky as the Earth rotates below it.
ILMT is the third telescope facility to come up at Devasthal, one of the best sites for astronomical observations, and will commence operations in October 2022.
Picture Credit : Google
