Merak, Ladakh

Merak is a village on the southern banks of Pangong Tso, near Spangmik on the south India-China border in the Leh District, Ladakh.

Location
Merak is situated 176 kilometers east of Leh, on the southern banks of Pangong Tso. It is directly opposite to Finger 3 which is located on the northern bank of the lake.

History
In 2018, a telescope was installed to study solar chromosphere at Indian Astronomical Observatory, Merak. The village is also the proposed site for National Large Solar Telescope (NLST), a Gregorian multi-purpose open telescope. Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arcs were observed in Merak in November 2023 and during the May 2024 solar storms.

In 2021, the village got its first tap water supply. Also, BSNL, a state-run telecom service provider got approval from Indian Army for a 25-km optical fibre cable link between Merak and Chushul for civilian telecom traffic.