The Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (AIRES) will soon install Asia’s biggest Liquid Mirror Telescope also known as Devasthali Optical Telescope (DOT) at Devasthal near Nainital in Uttarakhand. A liquid mirror telescope coated with mercury is much cheaper than the usual ones and it can observe only those objects in space that come into its view as it cannot be moved in different directions. It will be used to study celestial bodies like stars, space debris and satellites among others which will pass through its focus.
Currently, biggest such telescope in Asia has a diameter of 3.6 metres while this telescope would be of four metres in diameter making it to be the third biggest telescope in the world after the installation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Belgian counterpart Charles Michel launched this telescope remotely in March, 2016. It has been made in joint cooperation with Canada and Belgium at a cost of Rs 10 crore. The scientist of ARIES, Dipankar Banerjee informed that the telescope could have been installed earlier but it got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the state. He said that all the manufacturing work of the telescope is completed and it will be installed and inaugurated soon. Some experts from Belgium and Canada will also arrive on the occasion, added Banerjee.