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News: In this year’s Union Budget, the government sanctioned two new telescopes and approved the upgradation of an existing telescope in Ladakh.
About New Telescopes NLST, NLOT Planned for Ladakh
- The government approved the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) and the National Large Optical–Near Infrared Telescope (NLOT) to study the Sun and the origins of the universe.
- Nodal Agency: The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, is the nodal agency for the NLST and NLOT
About National Large Solar Telescope (NLST)
- Location: It will be built in the Merak region near Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh.
- Purpose: It will help scientists study solar dynamics, magnetism, energetic solar events, and space-weather processes affecting Earth and national space assets.
- Working Mechanism: It is a 2-metre aperture solar telescope that will operate in visible and near-infrared wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Key Features:
- It will become India’s third ground-based solar observatory.
- It is expected to be operational in 5–6 years.
- It will support data from Aditya-L1.
About National Large Optical–Near Infrared Telescope (NLOT)
- About: It is a 13.7-metre segmented-mirror telescope to study exoplanets and the universe’s origins.
- Location: It will be built in Hanle, Ladakh.
- Purpose: It will conduct research on exoplanets, stellar and galactic evolution, supernovae, and the origins of the universe.
- Working Mechanism: It will use 90 smaller hexagonal mirror segments that act as one large primary mirror and operate in optical-infrared wavelengths.
