Asia’s largest liquid mirror telescope installed in Nainital, will reveal the secrets of space [TKB Science]

Asia’s largest International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) was inaugurated on 21 March 2023 at Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, Uttarakhand. It was inaugurated by Governor (Retd) Lieutenant General Gurmeet Singh.

This telescope is four meters in diameter. Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh was also connected online in this program. On this occasion, the Governor said that the establishment of ILMT would not only benefit India but also the allied countries. This is an excellent example of the intense talent of Indian scientists in the field of research and interaction with the world community. The scientists, experts and researchers from the countries associated with this project, Belgium, Canada, Poland and Uzbekistan, are congratulated India for this new achievement.

Professor Ramsagar, former director of ARIES, said that liquid mirror telescope will accelerate space related research. The installation of this telescope will help in the research of studies done with 3.6 meter optical telescope. Professor Dipankar Banerjee, director of ARIES, told that the testing of this telescope has been done and meaningful results have come out. About 4 crore rupees have been spent on this telescope. Along with the discovery of the second solar system, this supernova will reveal many secrets of the universe including asteroids. Its tenure is of 5 years.

According to the scientists of Aries, there are mainly three components in the liquid mirror telescope. The first bowl containing a reflective liquid metal (mercury). The second air pressure driven motor on which the liquid mirror rests. A system to drive the third motor. When rotating, the surface of liquid mirror binoculars naturally takes on a parabolic shape, which is ideal for focusing light.

A thin transparent film of scientific grade Mylar protects the liquid mercury from wind abrasion, which can create ripples on the surface of the mercury. The reflected light passes through a sophisticated multilens optical corrector that produces clear images over a wide field of view. A 4Kx4K CCD camera at the focus above the mirror records 22 arc-minute wide strips of sky. ILMT is the largest diameter optical survey telescope in the country. It generates around 10-15 gigabytes of data.