Science and Technology - INDIA’S FIRST ROBOTIC TELESCOPE

INDIA’S  FIRST ROBOTIC  TELESCOPE

Recently, India’s first robotic telescope – Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH)-India, began its operation at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) in Hanle in Ladakh.

GROWTH-India

•     It is a joint project of Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB).
•      It is fully funded by the Science and Engineering Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology, under the PIRE project, administered by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum. 
•   It is a 70cm telescope and the primary objective of the project is the time domain astronomy.
•    It is mainly an imaging telescope
•   The first targets for the telescope were chosen from the Messier catalogue (a catalogue of nearby, bright astronomical sources accessible from the northern hemisphere).

About GROWTH Initiative

•          It is a part of multi-country collaborative initiative to observe transient events in the universe.
•      The initiative focus on three scientific themes in the field of time-domain astronomy –cosmic  explosions (supernova), small near- earth asteroids and the electromagnetic  identification of gravitational wave sources.
•       It is a fully robotic optical research telescope which has been designed to capture cosmic events occurring in timescales much shorter than light years like years, days and even hours.
•         Partners: Universities and research institutes from the US, the UK, Japan, India, Germany, Taiwan and Israel are part of the initiative.

What are transient events?

·         These are short lived burst of energy in a system caused by a sudden change of state.

·         The events are caused due to several factors such as relatively benign flares of stars, accretion of matter on compact objects, stellar merger and explosions.

·         All these result in a flash in the sky for a period and then slowly fade away.

·         Through these electromagnetic signatures, astronomers try to gain an insight into the cosmic objects as well as physical processes that govern their evolution.

What is Time Domain Astronomy?

It is the study of how astronomical objects change with time. Changes may be due to movement or physical changes in the object itself. Examples include pulsar variability, and the variability of accreting black holes, variable stars, and the Sun.

Himalayan Chandra Telescope

·         It is a 2-m Telescope at IAO, Hanule, ladakh.

·         It is remotely operated using dedicated satellite communication link from the Centre of Research & Education in Science and Technology.

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