INTERNATIONAL LIQUID MIRROR TELESCOPE (ILMT) | UPSC Current Affairs

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Context

Asia’s largest 4-metre International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) was inaugurated at Devasthal in Uttarakhand.
The telescope is located at an altitude of 2,450 metre on the Devasthal Observatory campus of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous institute under the Science and Technology (DST) department, in Nainital district.

What is ILMT?

The International Liquid Mirror Telescope has a 4-meter-diameter rotating mirror made up of a thin layer of liquid mercury to collect and focus light.
The metal mercury is in liquid form at room temperature, which is highly reflective and designed to survey the strip of the sky passing overhead each night.

ILMT and its Features

ILMT is the first liquid mirror telescope designed exclusively for astronomical observations.
This is the largest aperture telescope available in the country at present.
It is also the first optical survey telescope in India.
While scanning the strip of the sky every night, the telescope will generate nearly 10-15 gigabytes of data.
The telescope is designed to survey the strip of the sky passing overhead each night, allowing it to detect transient or variable celestial objects such as supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, and asteroids. The data gathered by the telescope will be analyzed quickly using AI and machine learning to catalog the objects in the sky, including variable and transient stellar sources.
The data collected from the ILMT, over an operational time of 5 years, will be ideally suited to perform a deep photometric and astrometric variability survey

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. India’s first Liquid Mirror Telescope, is a big moment for astronomy in India. Elucidate. Write a note on its features and working principle.