The new facility to be officially unveiled on October 22 would be linked to the telescope facilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the US and have technological capabilities exceeding those of the Bosscha observatory in Bandung, West Java, the oldest observatory in Indonesia, Ferry Doringin, principal of the Lokon High-school hosting it , said here Wednesday.
"In the observatory`s dome which is five meters in diameter there will be a Meade LX-200 GPS automatic telescope and a Hunter manual telescope," he said.
The Meade LX-200 GPS automatic telescope had the ability to store data on around 300 thousand celestial objects like meteors, stars, galaxies and other celestial objects. The telescope is much more sophisticated than the one at Bosscha, he said.
"We can just name the object we want to observe, for instance Venus, and the telescope will automatically locate it. It is unlike the manual telescope which requires the observer to do a search first," Ferry said.
A special feature of the Mount Lokon Observatory was that was connected to NASA`s space telescopes. The entire facility could linked to other existing telescopes, including those in the World Wide Telescope network.
"Related to this, we still have to complete some administrative procedures so that the access can be opened," Ferry said.
The presence of the observatory built at SMU Lokon will be beneficial for education tourism and research in order to heighten the community`s awareness that astronomy is closely related to human life on earth.
The inauguration of the observatory would happen in conjunction with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the mathematics and science department of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Lokon Education Foundation for science and human resource development as well as between research and development of Lokon Education Foundation and Bosscha Observatory.
The inauguration ceremony would be attended among others by the head of Bosscha Observatory Dr.Hakim L Malasan, the rector of ITB Prof.Dr.Akhmaloka, the president of the International Olympic Astronomy and Astrophysics International Olypiad Dr. Chantief Kinjaya, the head of the Lokon Education Foundation Ronald Karompis and Nort Sulawesi Governor Sinyo H Sarundajang.
(T.KR-LWA/HAJM/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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