Telescope “Milutin Milanković”
2 August 2016
The telescope arrived in Serbia within the project “Belissima”, which lasted for six years and was successfully completed on 30 June. The framework of this international project was just to purchase a telescope, for which three-quarters of the money was provided by the European Commission, and the rest of the money was provided by the Ministry of Education and Science. The telescope arrived at Vidojevica at the end of April and it was installed and tested in May, and both our and foreign astronomers were surprised by the first shooting in the night between 7 and 8 June.
“The images were sent for processing to one of the most European and world famous astrophotographer. We were impressed by what was obtained as the final result. The images of the mentioned objects are among the best that were taken by the telescope from the Earth, and they absolutely approached to Hubble’s images”, it was said in the Astronomical Observatory, noting that it had confirmed the quality of the new telescope as well, and it also justified the decision on selecting the observation spot on Vidojevica. In Fact, the studies have shown that Vidojevica has the darkest sky in Serbia, which means that it is the most suitable for astronomical observations.
The machine is temporarily placed in a prefabricated pavilion with a removable roof. In order to be fully robotized, it is missing about 250,000 euros, for which the astronomers expect the help of the Line Ministry.
“The construction of the professional pavilion was planned with movable dome, which must be purchased, because there is no company in Serbia that can do it. When we have this, we will be able to manage Telescope from Belgrade or any other remote location via internet in real time”, said Cvetković.
