15 June 2012 | 16:18

Kazakhstan to rent Russian equivalent of Hubble telescope

Spektr-UF telescope

Kazakhstan will rent Russian telescope Spektr-UF to be launched in space in 2016, Tengrinews.kz reports citing deputy director of Vassiliy Fassenkov Astrophysical Institute Rashid Valiullin. The space observatory will help scientists study the Universe in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum that is inaccessible for observations from the Earth. Kazakhstan scientists have already prepared a research program for Spektr-UF. They are interested in active galactic nucleuses (“black holes”), certain groups of galaxies and a so-called “black substance” recently discovered by the scientists. Compared to American Hubble, the observatory's location will be much more remote from the Earth: at around 300 thousand km from the planet. The capacities of Spektr-UF are close and in some area even exceed those of the American equivalent. Hubble has spent over 20 years in space. “Its resources are at the breaking point, it will stop functioning soon. This telescope, to be launched in 2016, will be able to replace it in some way,” Valiullin said. Besides Kazakhstan, this project is participated in by several other countries, like Germany, China and Spain. After the launch of the telescope into the orbit, these countries will also have a right for a certain number of observing hours. The observatory is expected to spend at least 5 years in space. By Dmitriy Khegai

Kazakhstan will rent Russian telescope Spektr-UF to be launched in space in 2016, Tengrinews.kz reports citing deputy director of Vassiliy Fassenkov Astrophysical Institute Rashid Valiullin. The space observatory will help scientists study the Universe in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum that is inaccessible for observations from the Earth. Kazakhstan scientists have already prepared a research program for Spektr-UF. They are interested in active galactic nucleuses (“black holes”), certain groups of galaxies and a so-called “black substance” recently discovered by the scientists. Compared to American Hubble, the observatory's location will be much more remote from the Earth: at around 300 thousand km from the planet. The capacities of Spektr-UF are close and in some area even exceed those of the American equivalent. Hubble has spent over 20 years in space. “Its resources are at the breaking point, it will stop functioning soon. This telescope, to be launched in 2016, will be able to replace it in some way,” Valiullin said. Besides Kazakhstan, this project is participated in by several other countries, like Germany, China and Spain. After the launch of the telescope into the orbit, these countries will also have a right for a certain number of observing hours. The observatory is expected to spend at least 5 years in space. By Dmitriy Khegai

telescope Asia Pacific China CIS Europe Germany Kazakh Kazakhstan news observatory Russia space Spain Americas