The film Pengabdi Setan 2 features the iconic Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, Bandung, West Java. Did you know, this observatory has 12 advanced telescopes to observe the sky.
Summarized from Wikipedia, Bosscha Observatory is Indonesia's oldest astronomical observatory. In 2004, the Bosscha Observatory was designated as a Cultural Heritage Object based on UU No. 5 of 1992 by the Indonesian Government. In 2008, the Government designated the Bosscha Observatory as one of the National Vital Objects.
The Bosscha Observatory was also designated as a National Cultural Heritage Building in 2017 and at the Regency level in 2021. Unfortunately, the operation of the observatory is threatened with closure due to light pollution from residential activities in Lembang in the last few decades. This condition makes the Bosscha Observatory unable to see the night sky as clearly as before.
Bosscha Observatory
For information, the Bosscha observatory operates 12 telescopes, including three radio telescopes with the 0.6 meter Zeiss Double Refractor Telescope as the largest telescope mounted on the dome. Here are the advanced telescopes at the Bosscha Observatory.
Zeiss Double Refractor Telescope
The Zeiss Double Refractor Telescope is a 0.6 meter refractor optical telescope consisting of two main telescopes and one finder telescope. Operating since 1928, this telescope is the largest and oldest telescope of the Bosscha Observatory. This telescope is often used to examine the physics and behavior of stars, especially binary stars, star clusters, comets, and planets in the Solar System.
Bamberg telescope
The Bamberg telescope is a 0.37 meter refractor telescope that was installed in 1929 in a special building that causes this telescope to only observe celestial objects that are in the southern latitude of the sky 30° or more and East-South-West azimuth. This telescope is used to observe changes in the brightness of variable stars, to observe the Sun and the surface of the Moon, and photometry of stellar eclipses.
Milky Way Schmidt Telescope
The Milky Way Schmidt Telescope is a 0.71 meter telescope operating in the blue to near-infrared wavelengths. This telescope was a donation received from UNESCO in May 1960.
Named 'Milky Way' by Gale Bruno van Albada, director of the observatory from 1951-1958, because at that time his telescope would be used to examine the Milky Way Galaxy. This telescope is used to observe stars with hydrogen line emission, M-class stars, and Wolf-Rayet stars.
GOTO telescope
The GOTO telescope is the first 0.45 meter reflector telescope that is computer driven and equipped with a CCD (to increase the sensitivity of observations) at the Bosscha Observatory.
This telescope is a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan received in 1989, and is used to observe variable stars, light curves of extrasolar planets, asteroids, stellar spectroscopy, and planetary imaging.
GAO-ITB RTS telescope
The GAO-ITB RTS telescope is a 0.279 m telescope that is fully computer driven and remote. This telescope is the result of a collaboration between the Gunma Astronomical Observatory (GAO) in Japan and ITB in 2005. The remote technology installed allows observers in Japan to access this telescope. In 2015, the telescope was upgraded with a diameter of 0.28 meters and a spectrograph for the observation of emission lines of comets and supernovae.
STEVia telescope
The STEVia telescope (Survey Telescope for Exoplanet and Variable star) is a 0.279 meter reflector telescope that was built in 2013. This telescope is used to survey open star clusters in order to find extrasolar planets and new variable stars and observe short-lived celestial events such as supernovae and stellar occultation.
Bosscha Robotic Telescope
The Bosscha Robotic Telescope (BRT) is a 0.35 meter robotic telescope installed in 2019, making it the newest telescope at the Bosscha Observatory. BRT is the second generation robotic telescope of the Bosscha Observatory. The first generation BRT has been transferred to Universitas Nusa Cendana.
BRT was included as one of the preparatory steps for the national observatory that is currently being built in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. This telescope is used to observe extrasolar planets, variable stars, and asteroids that are close to Earth.
Solar telescope
This telescope is a Sun telescope consisting of 3 Coronado telescopes with 3 different filters, as well as a Sun image projection telescope that is entirely made by ourselves.
This facility is a contribution from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Leids Kerkhoven-Bosscha Fonds, the Ministry of National Education, as well as the Ministry of National Research and Technology.
2,3m radio telescope
The Bosscha 2.3m radio telescope is a SRT (Small Radio Telescope) type radio instrument designed by the MIT-Haystack Observatory and made by Cassi Corporation.
This telescope works at a wavelength of 21 cm or in the frequency range of 1,400-1,440 MHz. In that frequency range there is a neutral hydrogen line transition, so this telescope is very suitable for observing neutral hydrogen, for example in our galaxy, the Milky Way.
In addition, this telescope can be used to observe distant objects such as extragalaxies and quasars. The Sun is also an interesting object to study in these radio wavelengths.