During her trip to Ladakh a couple of days back, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman visited Hanle village in the Nyoma area, one of the most remote and farthest areas of the Union Territory (UT). She laid the foundation stone for a mini planetarium and astro globe at the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in the Changthang region.
The initiative to set up more facilities at Hanle was planned under the Special Development Package (SDP) and aims to promote scientific education, astro-tourism, stargazing, night sky programmes. It needs to be mentioned here that an astronomical observatory became functional here in the year 2001.
It is expected to generate local employment also as amateur and professional astronomers visit this place. According to Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Hanle is one of the best locations to India to set up an astronomical observatory. IIA Atronomical Observatory at Hanle is a high-altitude station situated at an altitude of 4,500 metres above mean sea level (MSL) to the north of Western Himalayas.
Located atop Mt. Saraswati in the vast Nilamkhul Plain in the Hanle Valley of Changthang, the site is a dry, cold desert with sparse human population and the ancient Hanle monastery as its nearest neighbour. The cloudless skies and low atmospheric water vapour make it one of the best sites in the world for optical, infrared, sub-millimetre, and millimetre wavelengths.
A sophisticated optical infrared telescope installed here is remotely operated using dedicated satellite links. A 0.70m wide field robotic telescope is under installation for monitoring transients, under the GROWTH project. IAO also hosts several site monitoring instruments such as seeing monitor, extinction monitor, all sky camera, Automated Weather Station, etc. The infrastructure developed by IIA at IAO, Hanle, has paved way towards initiating many new projects in astronomy such as the gamma-ray array telescope (HAGAR), jointly undertaken by IIA and TIFR and imaging Cherenkov telescope (MACE) undertaken by BARC, as well as in other paradigms of science.
At the Baba Atomic Research Centre’s Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) Telescope facility in Hanle, Prof. Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), and Dr K.K. Yadav from the Astrophysical Sciences Division, BARC presented the telescope’s current achievements and future plans.
Applauding the efforts of IIA and the local community, Mrs Sitharaman said: “This project symbolizes a collaborative spirit between the scientific and public community, a true matter of national pride.” She urged the development of programs tailored for common public to spark interest in astrophysics through hands-on learning and proactively putting out content generated through these scientific centres.
During her journey to Hanle, Sitharaman engaged with delegations of Anganwadi workers, contractor associations, and BJP members from Nyoma area. At Rongo, she visited an animal husbandry site where she met with mostly female pashmina goat and yak herders. The Minister distributed goat-shearing machines to support their livelihood.
As part of the Dharti Aaba Janbhagidari Abhiyan, Sitharaman interacted with campaign beneficiaries. She also presented a Rs 50 lakh cheque to Nyoma nomads under SBI’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. The funds will support the construction of 16 community tents, each accommodating up to 30 herders to help nomadic grazers during their movement.
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