India’s First Dark Sky Reserve

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Recently, the Department of Science & Technology (DST) has announced the setting up of India’s first Dark Sky Reserve in Hanle, Ladakh in the next three months.
- It will be located as part of Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary.

Hanle

It is about 4,500 metres above sea level and it hosts telescopes .
It is regarded as one of the world’s most optimal sites for astronomical observations.
The Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), High Energy Gamma Ray telescope (HAGAR), the Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment Telescope (MACE) and GROWTH-India are prominent telescopes located at the Hanle observatory.

About Dark Sky Reserve

It is a designation given to a place that has policies in place to ensure that a tract of land or region has minimal artificial light interference.
The International Dark Sky Association is a U.S.-based non-profit that designates places as International Dark Sky Places, Parks, Sanctuaries and Reserves, depending on the criteria they meet.
- Several such reserves exist around the world but none so far in India.
Significance : The reserve will boost astro tourism in India and will be one of the world’s highest-located sites for optical, infrared, and gamma-ray telescopes.

Do you Know ?

The Indian Astronomical Observatory, the high-altitude station of IIA, is situated to the north of Western Himalayas, at an altitude of 4,500 metres above mean sea level.
Located atop Mt. Saraswati in the Nilamkhul Plain in the Hanle Valley of Changthang, it is a dry, cold desert with sparse human population and has the 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.

Source:TH

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