To the moon and beyond

HYDERABAD: The city skies can soon be seen through the keen eye of the C-11 telescope, a highly sophisticated telescope designed by the Uranoscope de France with German technology. The telescope is being set up by the B M Birla Planetorium in the city within their campus in the new C P Birla Observatory. The observatory will be open to the public on appointment basis.  Talking to City Express B G Siddharth, director of the science centre said, “We should be functional in a few months. The telescope is a highly sophisticated, state-of-the-art telescope that we have specially ordered. It is powerful enough for us to even view exoplanets.” Exoplanets are planets that are attached to another star, outside our solar system. While explaining further, the director said, while viewing them is possible, there are other factors that determine the sighting. “We need clear skies. The atmosphere should be clear enough for us to see through. Plus we need to know where and in which direction to look,” he added.For a State obsessed with science, the Birla Planetarium offers space enthusiasts the chance to use a highly powerful and specialised telescope. The C-11 is quipped with CCD - charge couple device- and a computer projection device. This make the telescope a lot more accurate and precise. “Compared to the last few years, the technology used with this system is definitely more advanced. The telescope is relatively more precise. We do have telescopes that are Indian made in our observatory. But the C-11 is the crown jewel,” he further elaborated.The entire project has had a lot of specifications, including the building on which the telescope will be mounted. The shape of the dome has to be just right, the altitude of the building high enough and so on and so forth. Explained Siddharth, “We had to construct a building specifically for the C-11. Taking into account the the various specifications and the sophisticated technology, the project costed about Rs 20 crore and has been in the pipleline for about five years.” The C-11 besides being able to spot exoplanets, can observe comet sightings, the moon, other planets in our solar system, like Jupiter and Saturn and other astronomical observations.