The 4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope Project


ILMT

The International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)

is a 4m class telescope project, in which several institutions from different countries are actively involved.



The ILMT uses Liquid Mirror technology : the primary mirror of the telescope is a rotating container with highly-reflecting liquid in it (mercury). The surface of the spinning liquid takes the shape of a paraboloid.



The ILMT is a promising instrument which can be entirely dedicated to a specific scientific project. Indeed, its low cost makes it a unique survey instrument. As liquid mirror telescopes cannot be tilted, they cannot track like conventional telescopes do. The tracking is done artificially by using a technique called time delayed integration (TDI), which uses a CCD detector that tracks by electronically stepping its pixels. The ILMT will be equipped, at its prime focus, with a time-delay-integration (TDI) corrector capable of imaging a field of 30x30 arcminutes with a resolution better than one arcsecond. The ILMT will carry out direct imagery using a 4K x 4K thinned CCD as the detector working in the TDI mode.



It will be installed at Devasthal (India) where it will monitor a strip of sky of 0.5 degree of declination down to a limiting magnitude of about 23 in the I band in a single integration. This survey will last for about five years. The information will be stored on disks so that the night observations can be coadded with a computer to lead to long equivalent integration times.



Successful spincasting of the 4m ILMT at AMOS! 21-25 September 2009

We present a series of pictures and videos showing the preparation for the spin cast of the 4m international liquid mirror telescope at AMOS 21-25 September 2009
Participants : Paul Hickson, Jean Surdej, Stephan Denis, Joël Poels, Arnaud Magette, François Finet, Brajesh Kumar, Denis Defrère, Olivier Absil, Charles Hanot
Spin cast of ILMT (videos)

Spin cast of ILMT (pictures)


Visit of J.-P. Swings and J. Surdej to the Devasthal Observatory near Nainital (India) from 6 to 12 February 2008.

We present a series of pictures showing the potential site for the ILMT at the Devasthal Observatory near Nainital (India). The ILMT should be constructed there in 2009.
Devasthal (India), current status, some pictures (February 2008)


The 2m CSL LMT

Arnaud and Davide in their cosmic suit testing the 2m CSL LMT (quicktime)
Arnaud and Davide (see diaporama)


The ILMT

This photograph shows the structure and the container of the 4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope in construction at the AMOS facility.
Construction of the international liquid mirror telescope at AMOS (see diaporama)


 

 

EASO
Extragalactic Astrophysics and
Space Observations
Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Liège University, Allée du 6 Août, 17 (Sart Tilman, Bât. B5c), 4000 Liège, Belgique Tel.: 04.366.97.16, Fax: 04.366.97.46