Nainital to get giant telescope

The Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) at Nainital will soon have a large optical telescope of 3.8m diameter for higher research in astronomy.

The project is likely to come up with the collaboration of Russia and Belgium. An agreement will be signed this year, according to highly placed sources in the Belgian embassy.

ARIES, an autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology hosts optical telescopes of the size of 15cm, 38cm, 52cm and 104 cm.

According to the sources, Union minister of state for science and technology Kapil Sibal had a discussion with a high level delegation from Belgium led by Jean-Claude Marcourt, minister of economy, employment and foreign trade of the Walloon tegion, which had visited India.

As per the discussion, India will sign a tripatite agreement with Russia and Belgium for the Euro 10-15 million project, with technical and financial collaboration from both the countries.

Belgium will provide the financial assistance and its technical expertise in making large telescopes.

Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS), a Belgian company specialising in designing and manufacturing high accuracy mechanical and optical systems, will provide the design and technical calculations for the telescope. Russia will provide the mirrors to be fitted with it.

"The components will be manufactured in India and shipped to Belgium where they will be integrated and tested before being flown back to India," Jean-Pierre Chisogne, aerospace engineer and commercial manager of AMOS told Business Standard.