Karachay-Cherkessia: excursion to the largest telescope in Eurasia

I wanted to get to this place in the mountains of Karachay-Cherkessia for a very long time. And finally, my little dream - to see the Big Telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences in action - came true! Of course, I had heard about the large size of the telescope, the construction process of which lasted 15 years, but when I stood next to it and this unique structure did not fit in my “fish” lens, I was really amazed! We visited the underground part of the observatory, and I also took some pictures from the air.

In the valley of the Bolshaya Zelenchuk river, near Nizhny Arkhyz, in the 60s of the last century, a research institute, the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences was built. The main observation site was a place at an altitude of 2,100 meters near Mount Pastukhov.

The Big Azimuthal Telescope (BTA) is located here, with a diameter of a monolithic mirror of 6 meters.

To the left of the telescope is a special crane that was used in the construction of the tower and telescope.

The height of the dome of the telescope is more than 50 meters; it is made of aluminum.

The diameter of the dome is about 45 meters. The shutter in the center pushes up, providing surveillance. The dome itself can rotate around its axis.

This view opens from the top of the dome.

Let's go inside the telescope.

In this room, tourists are told about the history of the observatory, what it does. The decision to build a telescope with a six-meter mirror was made in 1960. Design and construction continued for several years, including making a mirror for more than three years, and in 1975 the observatory was commissioned.

The size of the telescope is amazing. What you see in the photo is the lower circular platform on which the mirror is mounted. This colossus weighing 650 tons can move smoothly around its axis.

Light from the mirror is collected, concentrated and reflected in the upper part of the telescope, where the primary receiving device is located. The focal length of the telescope in the end is 24 meters! But if you use an additional mirror that casts light back, and then into one of the side tricks, then the focal length increases to 180 meters!

We were lucky, when we opened the dome and showed the operation of the telescope in action! Below are visible mechanisms that open the sash.

The dome, by the way, is hollow inside, you can climb the stairs to the top of the telescope.

View from the telescope.

You can climb the dome through special stairs.

In the next two pictures, the telescope slowly turns silently.

The door leaves slowly open ...

Previously, inside the upper part, resembling a glass, there was a person who received a signal. Now this is done by electronics, and the signal is transmitted to workrooms.

After demonstrating the operation of the telescope, we went down to the lower floors to see which devices ensure its operation.

The telescope is mounted on a slewing platform with a nine-meter vertical axis. We saw the upper part of the platform above, this is a circle with a diameter of 12 meters, and below it goes into a spherical ring, which acts as a bearing.

A spherical ring rests on liquid friction bearings, three rigid and three spring-loaded.

We go down to the floor below. There is a rotation drive. These are two wheels for ensuring tracking of objects in two planes at once.

We go down even lower. This is the lower block of bearings that fix the axis. The base of the telescope is separated from the general foundation of the tower to avoid unnecessary vibrations.

A hotel for scientists was built near the observatory. After all, you have to work watching the stars at night)

The BTA telescope remained the largest telescope in the world since 1975, until 18 years later it was surpassed by the Keck telescope in the United States. Now it remains the largest telescope on our continent, and, in order to conduct research on it, are recorded in the queue. Tourists can get here in the daytime, excursions are available from the Romantic resort. I spoke about the telescope very superficially, I invite everyone to a full-fledged tour with a personal visit here, this is worth it.