An introduction to the Indian astronomical observatory, Hanle

Abstract

Situated in the high-altitude cold desert of Changthang Ladakh bordering Himachal Pradesh and Tibet, Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle (32°46'46"N, 78°57'51"E; 4500 m above msl), provides excellent opportunities for developing astronomical facilities at a variety of frequencies. In addition, it provides environment and logistics for a range of scientific experiments which be nefit from its unique location. Indian Institute of Astrophysics has built this observatory around a modest 2-m aperture optical/infrared telescope. A 0.5 m telescope will soon be added. A large facility (6.5-8.5 m class infrared/optical telescope) is under consid eration. A 2-m telescope of new advanced technology design has been installed at the observatory in what probably is a record in the speed of execution. The site development, fabrication and installation of the telescope has been accomplished in just about 3 years. The telescope saw its first light on the night of September 26/27 2000 and has been operating with a CCD imager. A larger CCD imager, a faint object spectrograph camera, and a JHK imager are under fabrication. A 1-5 micron imager spectrograph is planned as the next generation instrument. The telescope will be remotely operable from the Centre for Research and Education in Science & Technology of IIA at Hosakote near Bangalore over the next few months. All the necessary infrastructure including 20 kw/h power through generators, 1 Mbps dedicated satellite communication link (to be upgarded to 2 Mbps and a 128 kbps redundant link to be established), liquid nitrogen plant, etc. have been already developed. The Government of Jammu & Kashmir has transferred over 600 acres of land to the observatory. The infrastructure developed for the observatory is already being used for other scientific experiments by national and international institutions. The experiments include determination of atmospheric opcaity at mm wavelengths, geodynamic and seismological experiments, aerosol background and other aeronomical experiments.