REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- Mount Timau in Kupang District, East Nusa Tenggara Province, will be home to the nation's biggest space observatory to be built in the eastern part of Indonesia in 2017.

Head of Public Relations of Kupang Administration Stefanus Baha stated here on Tuesday that the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) had selected Mount Timau as a strategic location for conducting space observations due to its remote location and atmospheric conditions.

The quality of observation at the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang District, West Java, had been degrading due to the worsening light pollution from the surrounding residential areas that had led LAPAN to consider building a new observatory to replace the oldest one in the country.

"The officials from LAPAN have been familiarizing the project for which the construction begins in 2017. Certainly, this would be a vital object that will have a major impact on the development of the region," Stefanus revealed.

The Kupang administration had welcomed Head of LAPAN Thomas Jamaludin during a visit to Mount Timau on May 21.

The construction of the new observatory was scheduled to be completed in 2019, Stefanus stated.

"Researchers from across the world will visit here to conduct space observations," Stefanus said, adding that the project will also benefit the local economy.

The Bosscha Observatory, built in 1923, is the oldest in Indonesia.

The observatory, situated on a hilly land 1,310 meters above sea level in Lembang and approximately 15 kilometers north of Bandung, West Java, has been an integral part of the research and formal education of astronomy in Indonesia.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika