New State Of Art Renovations in Trivandrum Observatory

27 December 2013

Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala State Science and Technology Museum (KSSTM) has been entrusted with the responsibility of procuring and installing state-of-the-art telescopes for the Trivandrum observatory, under the Department of Physics, University of Kerala.

A proposal for Rs 25 lakh has been submitted to the Kerala University for approval for procurement of the telescopes, said Arul Jerald Prakash, KSSTM director.“Once we get the green signal, we can begin the process,” said Prakash. “We will be importing the components for two reflecting telescopes and their mounts and will be assembling them here.”

The telescopes in question are a 14 inch and a 11 inch reflecting telescopes which will replace the existing 3.5 inch and 5 inch refracting telescopes. The mounts for the two new telescopes – German Equatorial Mount (GEM) for the 14 inch and alt azimuth mount for the 11 inch – are expected to be more costly than the telescopes themselves, ‘’said Prakash.

“The 14 inch telescope will be like the one we have at KSSTM – a computerized Schmidt-Cassegrain with an inbuilt database of over 40,000 celestial objects. There will also be facilities for astrophotography,” he said.

Additionally, the domes for the telescopes are also being indigenously developed by the KSSTM using fiber-reinforced plastics, he said.Upon receiving the go ahead from the University, it would take between six and ten months to set up the telescopes.

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