Israel launched its first national solar observatory in the Druze town of Isfiya, northern Israel.
The observatory, named Solaris and built by Israeli company Space Valley with a ministry investment of 1.75 million shekels (about 490,470 U.S. dollars), will focus on solar system research, particularly the sun, the ministry said in a statement.
Equipped with four advanced telescopes for high-quality observations, the observatory is also expected to serve as a regional educational center with a visitors’ center and a mobile planetarium, the ministry added.
The observatory aims to promote collaboration between academia and industry and advance research in solar radiation and its impacts.