India joins advanced international astronomy project
India has added another distinction to its credit in the field of astronomy with it becoming part of the prestigious (Thirty Metre Telescope) TMT project. Though India has been granted observer status initially it is entitled to become a full fledged partner in the long run.
Three leading astronomical institutes namely the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, (IUCAA) Pune, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Bangalore and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational-Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, have been instrumental in pushing the Indian initiative with respect to the project, which aims to unlock the secrets of the universe by studying various aspects of black holes, galaxies, stars and other celestial bodies.
The project, based at Mauna Kea, Hawaii has recently completed a $77 million design development phase. The project is expected to advance to the onsite construction phase sometime in 2011.
The TMT project is being implemented under both private and public partnership and besides Indian observatories, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has also been accorded observer status since 2009.
An observer status provides scientists access to the telescope which will be operated by Caltech.
The current partners of the TMT include the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy.
India is expecting to be offered a full partnership status in the near future with Ajit Kembhavi, director, IUCAA, Pune, reiterating that India’s observer status would be converted to full partnership in the project in about a year’s time.
The TMT project envisages the development of a 30-metre diameter segmented telescope which would be one of the most advanced telescopes built with current state-of-the-art technology. The instrument is a finely segmented filled-aperture telescope with seeing-limited and diffraction-limited capabilities, designed to offer better sensitivity as compared to the current telescopes in other observatories. It yields sharper images and has a very high resolution power.
Currently Canada is playing a lead role in the project with its involvement in the design, testing and development aspects of the telescope. At present, the task of polishing the telescope’s 492 mirror segments is in progress.
India’s participation is being seen as a major step forward for the project. According to professor Ray Carlberg, the Canadian Large Optical Telescope project director and a TMT board member, by broadening the TMT partnership, the project team would be able to leverage greater expertise to tap the potential for additional government endorsement for the entire project.
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