Divanee – South Asian news and entertainment

Global competitors India and China will collaborate on the construction of a $1 billion telescope, a project that will place both countries at the forefront of astronomy research. The two countries, which represent the world”s fastest growing emerging markets, will share the cost of the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii.

This is both India and China’s first involvement in an advanced telescope, which they anticipate to build later this decade. The telescope will reportedly help scientists observe planets that orbit stars other than the sun. The TMT, as it has been coined, will also give astronomers the ability to see 13 billion light years away.

Once completed, the 30-meter (or 100-foot) telescope will be the world’s largest, although not for long. A partnership of European countries is allegedly working on a 40-meter telescope, a project oddly known as the European Extremely Large Telescope.

The announcement cannot be good news for President Barack Obama, who has spent the first leg of his reelection campaign stressing the need to bring innovation and global competitiveness back to the United States. The U.S. president toured India in November of 2010 and has frequently commented on the formidable nature of China and India in the global economy.

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Sabrina Siddiqui is the editor-in-chief of Divanee.com.

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