Udaipur is all-set to be equipped with the country’s largest Optical Solar Telescope. The Multi-Application Solar Telescope (MAST), one of its kind in the country, will be hosted at the Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO).

As informed by Prof. Ashok Ambastha, Scientist, MAST includes an aperture of 50cm. There would be many supporting devices and there would also be layers of technologies and instruments used to fetch and observe the aspects of the study.

The telescope would be used for various purposes including Magnetic Field Study, the physical & structural dynamics of the Sun, and Spectral Analysis. “Apart from studying the mentioned aspects of the Sun, we would also be keeping a ticker on atmospheric degradation and on various thermal effects that occur on a day-to-day basis”, says Prof. Ashok.

On the question of “Why Udaipur, Rajasthan for this one of its kind project?” he replied, “In Udaipur we have a very good and one of the best research teams and we’ve been doing research in this facility from a very longtime”.

“The main two factors for selecting this spot in Rajasthan because we have maximum number of clear days which serves as a plus point during our research, as we can have good coverage of the Sun and Rajasthan receives the lowest rainfall among other states”, he added.

During the sight-seeing for the project in early 1972-74, Udaipur was opted amongst various other places due to the number of lakes suitable geographic factors, informed Prof. Ashok.

The final installation phase would be completed by the end of this week whereas optical and scientific testing will be done after the monsoons.

The lump-sum cost incurred on this equipment is around Rupees Twenty Crore and around another Ten Crore would be spent on other ancillary devices.

USO, Udaipur is considered to be one-of-the-best in Asia and is a part of the Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) which runs a 24-hour solar coverage.