The Hindu : Karnataka / Mangalore News : St. Aloysius College sets up observatory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 01, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

St. Aloysius College sets up observatory

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, MARCH 31. St. Aloysius College here, which recently celebrated its 125th anniversary, is all set to open a high-power observatory in coastal Karnataka. The Minister for Science and Technology, Basavaraj Horatti, will inaugurate the observatory on Friday.

Perched on the ninth floor of the St. Xavier block for science and research, the reflector azimuth-mounted eight-inch telescope is fitted inside a dome made by the German manufacturer, Schmidt-Cassegrain.

Speaking to The Hindu , the principal of the college, Rev. Eugene Lobo, said that the observatory will provide an opportunity to view the night sky in all its glory.

The dome helps create total darkness inside the observatory and is equipped with a slit for the telescope, he said.

According a senior faculty in the Department of Physics, D. Sudhakar Rao, there are two primary advantages to a dome compared to other types of observatories.

Firstly, the environmental moderation that provides for reduction of nocturnal dampness, and secondly, it gives improved deep sky observing ability for extended objects and to a full magnitude compared to the same instrument used in non-dome observatories.

The telescope at the college can be linked to a computer for locating celestial bodies, imaging, and photography.

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