Moscow State University’s new observatory and its telescope in the Caucasus Mountains will open new opportunities for training students and boosting foreign relations, MSU Rector Viktor Sadovnichy said at the opening ceremony on Plateau Shadzhatmaz in the Russian republic of Karachay-Cherkessia on Saturday.
“It’s a state-of-the-art station with huge opportunities for research, it’s one of the world’s best,” Sadovnichy said. “Its launch is a historical event in science as it will be Moscow University’s pearl, so important for teaching students and for promoting foreign relations.”
Head of the Shternberg Astronomical Institute Andrey Cherepashchuk said that astronomers lauded the first trials of the 2.5-metre telescope.
“First images of galaxies and nebulas taken by the telescope revealed its high quality,” he said. “Soon they will be published in scientific journals.”.