HANOI, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's first astronomical observatory will be put into operation in September in the central province of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.
The Progressive Corporation International JSC, the contractor of the project, on Friday transferred the observatory to the Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC) under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.
VNSC Director Pham Anh Tuan said the observatory will serve basic studies on optical astrophysics, disseminate knowledge of the universe in the community, and support human resource training in astrophysics.
With an investment of 60 billion Vietnamese dong (2.6 million U.S. dollars), construction of the observatory began in 2014 on Hon Chong islet in Nha Trang city.
The observatory is equipped with a space telescope of 0.5m in diameter inside a dome that is 9m in diameter. The dome can accommodate up to 60 people who can observe space or watch movies about planets, stars and history of the earth.
The observatory is one of the two observatory projects in Vietnam, costing a total 120 billion Vietnamese dong (5.3 million U.S. dollars).
The other one is under construction at the Hanoi-based Hoa Lac High-Tech Park and is expected to become operational in 2018.
