Asia’s biggest telescope is in India and was inaugurated recently. The Multi Application Solar Telescope (MAST) will be used for detailed observation of the solar activity. The MAST will usher the country to a vast amount of astronomical information that is owned only by a few countries in the world.
Authorised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, MAST has been funded by the Department of Space. So far Rs 26 crore has been spent on the project. The Physical Research Laboratory of Ahmedabad will take care of the project.
Highlights about MAST:
- The MAST is located in the Udaipur Solar Observatory which comes under the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), an autonomous unit of the Department of Space.
- The project was under by Union Ministry of Science and Technology and was funded by Department of Space (DoS).
- The telescope was inaugurated by Professor U.R Rao, Chairman of Physical Research Laboratory
- The USO is situated on an island like land form in Lake Fatehsagar of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. The site is ideal for the observatory as it provides 250 days of sunlight in a year.
- The lake will help provide the optimum temperature for the lens and also decreases the turbulence in the air mass. Considering the amount of magnification involved, lesser turbulence will result in improved image quality.
- The telescopeâs main motive is to capture high resolution 3D images of the surface and observing phenomena like solar flares. It will also be used to study seismic effects of solar flares.
- MAST was designed in 2004 and its optical elements were fitted in 2008. In 2013, it was installed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory.
- The telescope will be capable of capturing high resolution images even during the daytime which includes images of planetary movements besides the sunâ??s surface.
- The lens used in the telescope is based on the optical and mechanical system of Belgium.
- The rear part of the telescope was built by ISRO and the front part was developed by the observatory itself.
