(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – Asia’s largest 4-meter International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) was commissioned by Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh at the Devasthal Observatory in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
This landmark event places India at a much higher level of capability in studying the mysteries of the skies and astronomy. According to Singh, ILMT is another historic milestone in the long list of scientific pursuits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his nine years of administration.
The ILMT is now ready to explore the deep celestial sky, and it is designed to survey the strip of sky passing overhead each night. It can detect transient or variable celestial objects such as supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, and asteroids. So, here’s what we know about this iconic telescope.
What is the International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)?
The International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) is a landmark event for India’s scientific community, placing the country at a higher level of capability to study the mysteries of the skies and astronomy.
It is Asia’s largest telescope, with a length of about 4 meters, and is located at the Devasthal Observatory campus of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in Nainital district, Uttarakhand.
During the launch, Singh said that the ILMT collaboration includes researchers from ARIES in India, the University of Liège and the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Belgium, Poznan Observatory in Poland, the Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences and National University of Uzbekistan in Uzbekistan, the University of British Columbia, Laval University, the University of Montreal, the University of Toronto, York University and the University of Victoria in Canada.
The telescope was designed and built by the Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) Corporation and the Centre Spatial de Liège in Belgium.
More about its structure
The International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) employs a 4-meter-diameter rotating mirror made up of a thin layer of liquid mercury to collect and focus light, which is ideally suited for the task due to its high reflectivity and liquid form at room temperature.
It is designed to survey the strip of sky passing overhead each night, allowing it to detect transient or variable celestial objects such as supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, and asteroids.
There are three primary components in a liquid mirror telescope:
- A bowl containing a reflecting liquid metal (mercury)
- An air bearing (or motor) on which the liquid mirror sits
- A drive system
Liquid mirror telescopes take advantage of the fact that the surface of a rotating liquid naturally takes on a parabolic shape, which is ideal for focusing light. A scientific-grade thin transparent film of mylar protects the mercury from wind, and the reflected light passes through a sophisticated multi-lens optical corrector that produces sharp images over a wide field of view.
A 4k ⨯ 4k CCD camera, located above the mirror at the focus, records 22 arcminute wide strips of the sky.
Why is ILMT very important for India?
As the first liquid mirror telescope designed exclusively for astronomical observations, the ILMT is the largest aperture telescope available in India and the first optical survey telescope in the country.
It will generate nearly 10–15 gigabytes of data each night, which will be analyzed using big data and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms to classify the objects observed with the ILMT. The data collected from the ILMT over its 5-year operational period will be ideally suited to a deep photometric and astrometric variability survey.
Over the next five years, the ILMT will perform a deep photometric and astrometric variability survey, generating a wealth of data that will help us better understand the universe.
(India News Network)
