ECIL Unveils World’s 2nd Largest, 180 Ton Telescope To Be Installed In Ladakh

On Friday, a demonstration of the functioning of the  180 ton Major Atmosphere Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) gamma-ray telescope was given to media persons at the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) here. 

This telescope built by ECIL with technology support from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will be flagged off on Saturday. The MACE telescope will be transported by nearly 50 trucks to its destination at Hanle, Ladakh, which is 2,500 km away from Hyderabad. 

“Even though the MACE telescope is the second largest in the world, its performance will be comparable to that of the largest one in Namibia,” said Ramesh Koul, head, astro physical sciences division, BARC. The MACE telescope is intended to detect flashes of Cherenkov light. “There are 150 sources of energy in the galaxy. The idea is to detect more,” Ramesh Koul said adding that the practical application of the knowledge gained can be planned only later. 

Ramesh Koul said the MACE telescope would look into deep space, which is millions of light years into the galaxy. The telescope would be set up and be functional by 2016. It will be monitored remotely by satellite. After the initial scientific data comes from the experiment, India plans to set up one more gamma-ray telescope of the same dimensions in the same area. The 21-metre diameter MACE has been built at a cost of Rs 45 crore, which is half the cost of the one that a consortium of nations have set up in Namibia two years ago. 

The HESS telescope in Namibia has a diameter of 28 metres. “Through the experiments we conduct, we want to reveal the mysteries of nature, look at the origin of cosmic rays, dark matter, dark energy and black holes,” he said. 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also plans to launch the Astrosat, a multi-wavelength astronomy mission in 2015.

Source:ToI