Context:
Recently, India’s AstroSat and NASA’s space observatories have captured dramatic eruptions from stellar wreckage around a massive black hole.
Relevance:
GS III: Science and Technology
Dimensions of the Article:
- About AstroSat
- Scientific objectives of ASTROSAT mission are
About AstroSat
- AstroSat is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, designed to study celestial sources in X-ray, optical, and UV spectral bands simultaneously. It was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on September 28, 2015, by the Indian launch vehicle PSLV.
- With a lift-off mass of 1515 kg, AstroSat was placed into a 650 km orbit inclined at an angle of 6 degrees to the equator. The mission has a minimum useful life of around 5 years.
- Managed by the spacecraft control center at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru, AstroSat aims to facilitate the study of cosmic sources such as active galactic nuclei, black holes, and supernovae.
- The observatory also seeks to investigate star birth regions and high-energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes. With its unique ability to observe sources ranging from a few milliarcseconds to tens of arcminutes, AstroSat provides a comprehensive view of the high-energy universe.
Scientific objectives of ASTROSAT mission are:
- To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes
- Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars
- Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy
- Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky
- Perform a limited deep field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region
