World¡¯s First Liquid Mirror Telescope For Astronomy Set Up At Uttarakhand

India has set up the nation¡¯s first-ever ¡®liquid mirror telescope¡¯ at Uttarakhand¡¯s Devasthal Observatory, which also happens to be Asia¡¯s largest International Liquid Mirror Telescope.

ARIES

Sitting at a height of 2,450 metres, the liquid mirror telescope was set up in India in collaboration with Belgium, Canada, Poland, and Uzbekistan and was designed and built at the Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems Corporation and the Centre Spatial de Li¨¨ge in Belgium.

The telescope is owned and operated by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Science (ARIES). It also happens to be the first-ever liquid mirror telescope to be commissioned for astronomy.

The telescope will be used to observe the galaxies and other cosmic objects present across the universe.

To the unaware, conventional telescopes make use of polished glass mirrors using a single combination of curved surfaces and are used to look at special celestial objects at particular time frames.

`A liquid mirror telescope, on the other hand, makes use of reflective liquids. The one installed at Devasthal makes use of Mercury and is capable of showcasing numerous celestial objects including stars, galaxies, supernovae explosions, asteroids, space debris etc.

ARIES

The telescope is filled with 50 litres of mercury that is rotated at a fixed constant speed along the vertical axis of the ILMT. After continuous circular motions, the mercury in the container spreads and creates a thin layer, forming a paraboloid-shaped reflecting surface that then acts as the mirror.

It is capable of generating massive volumes of data -- around 10 to 15GB per night and is expected to work for the coming five years starting October 2022.

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