Glimpses of memories at Hanle during July Indian Astronomical Observatory: 25 Years (Part-I)
Prof. B. C. Bhatt, Dorje Angchuk, and Man Singh
Preamble
Under the Himalayan Infrared Optical Telescope (HIROT) project, first team of IIA landed Leh in November 1994 and with initial acclimatization in high altitude and cold weather, this team arrived Hanle in December 1995. We pitched our setup in a mud-hut in the premises of ITBP Camp in Hanle. This camp is situated in north east of our aimed Digpa-rtsa-re hill. To approach this hill, we have to walk about 4-5 km to Tashi-Chholing Gompa or travel approx. 12-14 Km to base of hill in south west direction and then climb steep 1000 ft to reach the top of hill. I was a member of this team and stayed in Leh/Ladakh for extended period. I have some fond memories of Leh/Hanle and I would like to share it every month in this new IIA messenger magazine, ‘Doot’’ under the title “Glimpses of memories at Hanle during July”.
During 1995, Prof. Harish Bhatt was the coordinator for our group at Hanle. On July 5, 1995, we travel to SW side of hill and climbed to top in late evening. By the time we reached top of Digpa-rtsa-re top, it was dark and we spent 3-4 hours in night there. We experienced the Hanle sky from top for the first time and tried to judge the quality of sky. As it can be noticed that we are at topmost point of hill and Prof. Harish was looking at the sky with Binocular. Myself, Mr. Venkataramanan (VBO), Kunga Tsering (Hanle) and Mr. B. Sinha, Asst. Commandant, ITBP are seen in these photos. A stone pileup sacred ‘Mane’ is there in background. Prof. Harish has put a note of this visit in our log-book. I could get a photo also.
On July 8, 1995, Gen. K. V. Krishna Rao, then Governor, State of J&K State landed ITBP camp helipad near our setup. After visiting ITBP, he came to our setup also and Prof. Harish welcomed him. He gave a briefing on our project. He appreciated IIA’s effort in that tough terrain for the project. Prof. Harish had put a small note on our log-book about it as seen in the photo (july_04).
During July 1996, first AWS (Automatic Weather Station, Campbell Scientific Inc.) reached Hanle. We transported it to SW base of hill in early morning on July 17, 1996 by Jeep and then loaded the boxes on mules for transporting the consignment top. A team of myself, Prof. Tushar Prabhu and Mr. B. N. Naidu (from IIA) also climbed to top with other helpers. The AWS was installed by noon and we got the first result at 1300hrs 17/7 which we could see by downloading data on portable storage module connecting to PC in the evening at our Camp. After installation we climbed down and cooked our food (Mr. Maan Singh, Leh) near a spring at base of the hill.
From IIA, wooden panels arrived at Hanle and we erected one enclosure ourselves at Hanle top and 12-inch Meade telescope was installed over the roof on this structure. Dome and other fabrication was did at site only with local available resources and helping hands. This telescope was used for seeing measurement at the site with Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) method. Beside it, we erected a 220GHz radio sensor for measuring precipitable water vapour, made by joint efforts of IIA, RRI and Japan.
Liquid Nitrogen Plant: A modular Liquid Nitrogen Plant purchased from M/S Sterling Cryogenics and Refrigeration BV, the Netherlands. The installation of this plant was done at base camp in July 1999 with the help of M/S Philips India. It has a capacity of 5 lit/hour liquid nitrogen production. This complete plant was designed by company keeping in mind the harsh and tough weather conditions in Hanle.
About the author
Dr. B. C. Bhatt joined IIA in 1994 and was part of the first team of IIA that did the site-testing and characterization of Hanle, Ladakh in November 1994. He was the Project Officer for setting up the 2 meter HCT at Leh/Hanle. Currently he is a professor at IIA and Scientist-in-Charge CREST campus, Hoskotte.
Mr. Dorje Angchuk was the first person from Ladakh to join IAO as a Trainee Engineer during its initial phase. He contributed to the installation and commissioning of the 2 meter HCT, later getting a permanent position there. Presently he is Engineer-in-Charge, IAO.
Mr. Man Singh joined as Cook/Caretaker at IIA’s transit guest house, and was later posted as Caretaker, IAO, Leh. During this time, he supported the guest houses at Leh and Hanle including office related work. He is currently a UDC at Raman Science Centre, IAO, Leh.
