Promotion

India will now be able to capture high resolution three dimensional images of the sun with the help of its largest multi-application solar telescope which has been installed in the Udaipur Solar Observatory.

On Tuesday, the Udaipur Solar Observatory witnessed the inauguration of India’s biggest multi-application solar telescope (MAST). Udaipur is the second place in the world, after China, to have the unique telescope.

MAST will help researchers a lot more in the study of the sun and the related components. It will also capture high resolution 3D images of solar activities like solar blast and flares which will now be easier to understand.

The telescope will be capable of capturing images even during the day and might add on to the study of other planetary movements too.

It has been installed in Udaipur, at the Solar Observatory, because the area is surrounded by water and thus has pleasant temperature. Because of less heating of surface layers, there is less turbulence in the air which helps in obtaining better image quality. As an added benefit, the observatory also enjoys more than 250 days of sunshine, which will further help in observation of the sun during the day.

Promotion

It was built by the Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) of Belgium and tested at Udaipur. The back-end instruments of MAST were made in the observatory, and the front part has been developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The MAST project has been authorised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and will be taken care of by the Physical Research Laboratory of Ahmedabad. It was funded by Department of Space. Chairman of the governing council of the Physical Research Laboratory, Prof. UR Rao, inaugurated the telescope. “This could facilitate space weather predictions in future,” he said and added that it will help understand the dynamic phenomena occurring on the surface of the sun.

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter (@thebetterindia).