Govt nod for setting up powerful solar telescope at Ladakh

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar May 19

The Jammu and Kashmir government has given a green signal to the establishment of indigenous National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) -- one of world’s most powerful solar telescopes -- at Merak village on shore of Pangong Lake in Ladakh.

To address critical problems in astrophysics and sun’s influence on earth, the telescope with an aperture of two metres is a part of Central government-sponsored Rs 300-crore project to be established by Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore.

The project came up for discussion at the meeting of standing committee of the J&K Wildlife Department on Wednesday. Forest Minister Choudhary Lal Singh, State Wildlife chief Deepak Khanna, Project Chief Investigator of IIA Dr Deepankar Banerjee and senior officials of Forest Department took part in delibrations.

“The state government has no objection to the project. The standing committee has recommended the case to National Board for Wildlife. They will take a final call,” Khanna said.

Expressing happiness over setting up of the mega project in Ladakh, the minister said it would help in research in astrophysics and attracting tourists. “There won’t be any compromise on the safety of wildlife and forest areas,” Singh said.

The IIA scientists and NLST project investigators are happy with the state’s environmental clearance. “State government was very positive in the meeting,” Prof Banerjee told The Tribune. The NLST will be located at 4,300 metres near Pangong Lake, which was selected to take advantage of the well-known terrestrial atmosphere stabilising effect of a large body of water, said Principal Investigator Dr S Siraj Hassan.

“I am relieved that we have got the clearance from the J&K Wildlife Department. It is important because without the approval, the project would not have taken off,” added Hassan.

He said the project would go for financial approval to the Union Ministry of Science and Technology. “I am positive and I hope project will be fast-tracked at financial and administrative levels by the Central government,” he said.

Astrophysicists say NLST will provide the best images of the sun to study the ever-changing magnetised surface, enabling them to tackle fundamental questions towards a predictive capability of the sun’s impact on the earth. This will also assure India’s prominence in space sciences.

“To achieve the required measurements of the solar magnetic fields with high accuracy and sensitivity, the telescope with a two-metre aperture is necessary to provide the requisite high spatial resolution and light collecting on the relevant time scales,” he said.

To control atmospheric and thermal changes of the observations, he said an innovative and six-metre completely open structure will allow the telescope to achieve its full potential.