International Liquid Mirror Telescope

The International Liquid Mirror Telescope is a 4-meter telescope located inside the premises of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in the city of Nainital, Uttarakhand, India. It is the first liquid-mirror telescope for astronomy in Asia and currently the largest liquid-mirror telescope in the world^[1] after the decommissioning of the Large Zenith Telescope.

History

On 2 June 2022, the telescope saw its first light.^[2] On 12 June 2022, it came online.^[3] On 21 June 2022, it became ready to observe.^[4] On 21 March 2023, it was inaugurated by Jitendra Singh.^[5]

Mechanism

The telescope uses elemental mercury as its mirror surface.^[6] The mercury is rotated about the axis of the telescope, and due to centrifugal force, takes a parabolic shape to focus incoming light.^[7]

See also

• Large Zenith Telescope
• NASA Orbital Debris Observatory