Dr. Jitendra Singh Lays Foundation for ₹75 Crore Astronomy Hub at IIA Bengaluru

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and MoS PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh, laid the foundation stone of a ₹75 crore state‑of‑the‑art building at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru. The upcoming seven‑storey facility, spanning nearly one lakh square feet, is set to become one of India’s premier hubs for advanced astronomy research and space science instrumentation.

Ceremony Highlights

• Event held at IIA’s Koramangala campus with dignitaries including Dr. S. Somanath, Dr. Annapurni Subramanian, senior faculty, scientists, DST and CPWD officials.
• Programme included plaque unveiling, inauguration of a medium‑size Aspheric Grinder & Polisher in the Optics Laboratory, garlanding of the founder’s bust, and presentations on IIA’s projects.
• New building to be named “M.K.V. Bappu Bhavana” in honour of Prof. Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu.

Strategic Importance

• IIA’s legacy dates back three centuries to the historic Madras Observatory.
• New facility will support students, researchers, and national missions.
• Strengthens India’s position in cutting‑edge observational science.
• Enhances IIA’s role in ISRO missions and international collaborations.

Contributions to Space Science

• Developed the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope onboard AstroSat.
• Contributed to the Aditya‑L1 solar mission.
• Operates observatories across Kodaikanal, Kavalur, Gauribidanur, and Hanle for solar and night‑time astronomy.

Future Projects Announced in Union Budget 2026

• National Large Solar Telescope
• National Large Optical‑Infrared Telescope
• Himalayan Chandra Telescope upgrade
• COSMOS‑2 Planetarium

Government’s Vision

• Enhanced budgetary support for science and technology.
• Promotion of public‑private partnerships.
• Establishment of the National Research Foundation and RDI Fund.
• Outreach programmes to connect institutions with youth via digital platforms.

Conclusion

The new IIA facility, executed by CPWD with a two‑year completion timeline, represents a critical investment in India’s scientific future. It will expand infrastructure and empower India’s ambitions in astronomy, astrophysics, and space instrumentation, reinforcing the nation’s global standing in space science.

Aditya-L1 Mission – DST Institutes IIA, ARIES, CREST and IUCAA Key Drivers in Designing Payloads To Automated Algo for Detecting CMEs

Aditya-L1, India's first observatory to study Sun, seeded in IIA - ISRO discussions to observe solar corona closely

• Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the primary payload developed by IIA
• IIA & ARIES designed the first automated algorithm to detect CMEs on board Aditya-L1 using the VELC instrument
• Aditya-L1 support cell established at ARIES to act as community service centre for analyzing science data

India’s Aditya-L1, a space observatory with 7 payloads heading for a vantage point to study the Sun has started countdown for its journey. It had its beginnings in preliminary/initial discussions between the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) about possible observations of the solar corona using indigenous space based telescopes.

Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC)

VELC Engineering Team Members in front of the truck which had the VELC all packed and ready to go to ISRO

IIA, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), had initially proposed a ‘suitable coronagraph’ payload to be mounted on a small satellite offered by ISRO. This ‘suitable coronagraph’ later graduated to the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) and still prevails as the primary payload, even as India’s Solar study ambitions expanded, making it a national initiative with multi-institutional collaboration.

The VELC will image the Sun's atmosphere, the corona, closer to the Sun than ever before, at high resolution and time cadence. The payload has 40 different optical elements of high precision and will be kept at a temperature of 22 degrees celsius in space.

Led by IIA, the VELC was designed, assembled, characterised, tested and integrated at Centre for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST) campus in Hosakote and delivered in close collaboration with ISRO. A Clean Room of international standard (India's first large-scale “Class 10” Clean Room) was constructed for the purpose inside its MGK Menon Laboratory. ISRO made the mirrors and detectors and provided them to IIA, while IIA delivered the completed VELC to ISRO on 26 Jan 2023.

Faculty, students, postdocs in IIA who work on solar astrophysics

Since VELC observes the Sun closest to its surface, many other Aditya-L1 payloads also need its data about new coronal mass ejections and other eruptions. The VELC Payload Operations Centre (POC) set up in IIA campus, will receive raw data from ISRO Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) and process them further to make it suitable for scientific analysis.

The processed data will be sent back to ISSDC for dissemination. The scientific team at IIA will use the Aditya-L1 data from its many payloads in conjunction with field station observations on the ground to gain a deeper understanding of the Sun-Earth links and, more crucially, the space-weather impact.

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory and Gauribidanur Radio Observatory of IIA will play a key role in this.

Automated Algorithm To Detect Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

IIA and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an another institute of DST, designed an automated algorithm to detect CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) on board Aditya-L1 using the VELC instrument. This algorithm will be the first of its kind to track the huge bubbles of gas threaded with magnetic field lines that are ejected from the Sun, disrupting space weather and causing geomagnetic storms, satellite failures, and power outages.

Solar physics group at ARIES

This algorithm has been hard-coded by ISRO and will be used to detect CMEs automatically on board Aditya-L1, making it one of the first onboard intelligence algorithms for this purpose as no similar thing has been attempted in previous NASA or ESA missions studying the Sun.

Aditya-L1 Support Cell (AL1SC)

ISRO has also collaborated with ARIES to establish the Aditya-L1 Support Cell at ARIES. The Aditya-L1 Support Cell (AL1SC) acts as a community service centre for the guest observers in preparing science observing proposals and analyzing science data.

This support cell will provide additional tools and train users about solar physics and provide help to understand, download and analyse the data from ISSDC/ISRO. AL1SC is conducting workshops in different parts of the country to familiarise students with the basic processes happening on the Sun, current open problems, the Aditya-L1 mission and observational data analysis.

X-ray Spectrometers and In-Situ Instruments

Aditya-L1 carries an ultraviolet imager, two X-ray spectrometers, and four in-situ instruments to measure plasma parameters. These are made by various centres of ISRO and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) with contributions from many other institutions.

StarBerrySense, A Raspberry-Pi based Low-Cost Space Instrument Made By IIAstrophysics Launched by ISRO On-Board PSLV C-55

For any space mission, it is crucial to know where the satellite is being pointed to, at any given time. While there are several ways to do this, a star sensor provides the most accurate information about a spacecraft’s orientation.

A new low-cost star sensor developed by Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAstrophysics) astronomers' group, from off-the-shelf components was recently launched by ISRO on board PSLV C-55.

StarBerrySense is capable of finding its pointing direction in space by identifying the stars in its field of view.

In its first-ever space test, StarBerrySense is mounted on the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), and is performing well. The initial data has now validated its design as well as its function.

StarBerrySense, an indigenously developed small space Instrument can calculate where it is pointing to. The space instrument is a creation of Space Payloads Group at IIAstrophysics, Bengaluru. This group builds low cost space payloads for Astronomy and perform in-house design, integration, validation and calibration of space instruments.

StarBerrySense's hardware design is based on Raspberry Pi, a tiny, affordable and open-source credit-card sized computer initially used by hobbyists and now for various IoT and business applications. 

StarBerrySense not only withstood the harsh conditions in space and is functioning as expected, the initial data shows that it is able to calculate the pointing direction.

“This payload is built around the well-known minicomputer RaspberryPi, and the electronics and software were designed in-house,” said Bharat Chandra, the technical lead of the project and a Ph.D. student at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. “The advantage of this payload is that it is cost-effective, simple to build, and can be deployed on a wide variety of satellites,” he added.

“StarBerrySense was mounted on ISRO's PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), which provides a stable platform for our payload to operate from. POEM is a unique initiative by ISRO that utilises the spent 4th stage of the PSLV as an orbital platform for carrying out scientific experiments. It is an excellent opportunity to conduct short-term scientific experiments in space,” said Rekhesh Mohan, the Principal Investigator of the StarBerrySense project.

POEM

The primary objective was to assess its survivability and performance in space. “The flight qualification tests were done at the MGK Menon Laboratory for Space Sciences, located in the CREST campus of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics at Hosakote. Sky imaging tests were conducted at our Vainu Bappu Observatory”, said Binukumar, former visiting scientist at IIA and a member of the StarBerrySense team. “During the days following the launch, we have verified that StarBerrySense is performing as expected in space,” said Shubham Ghatul, a Ph.D. student in the team.

The main function of StarBerrySense is to image the field of view, correctly identify the stars it sees, and calculate the pointing direction. Shubhangi Jain, a Ph.D. student in the team, said, “Analysis of the preliminary data has confirmed that the imaging equipment works as expected, and the onboard software is able to calculate the pointing direction."

Mahesh Babu, an electronics engineer with the team, added,"Using the images received from the payload, we are verifying its accuracy by comparing with data from international databases."

“Working with the PSLV team was a great learning experience for the whole team. Guidance and support from IN-SPACe was also invaluable in this successful venture,” added Rekhesh Mohan.

The team also consisted of Margarita Safonova (DST Woman-Scientist) and Jayant Murthy (Visiting Professor).The primary objective was to assess its survivability and performance in space. “The flight qualification tests were done at the MGK Menon Laboratory for Space Sciences, located in the CREST campus of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics at Hosakote. Sky imaging tests were conducted at our Vainu Bappu Observatory”, said Binukumar, former visiting scientist at IIA and a member of the StarBerrySense team. “During the days following the launch, we have verified that StarBerrySense is performing as expected in space,” said Shubham Ghatul, a Ph.D. student in the team.

The main function of StarBerrySense is to image the field of view, correctly identify the stars it sees, and calculate the pointing direction. Shubhangi Jain, a Ph.D. student in the team, said, “Analysis of the preliminary data has confirmed that the imaging equipment works as expected, and the onboard software is able to calculate the pointing direction.” “Using the images received from the payload, we are verifying its accuracy by comparing with data from international databases,” Mahesh Babu, an electronics engineer with the team, added.

“Working with the PSLV team was a great learning experience for the whole team. Guidance and support from IN-SPACe was also invaluable in this successful venture,” added Rekhesh Mohan. The team also consisted of Margarita Safonova (DST Woman-Scientist) and Jayant Murthy (Visiting Professor).

PSLV-C55 is a Dedicated Commercial PSLV mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), for the international satellite customer from Singapore. In this mission, TeLEOS-2 a Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite will be the primary satellite and Lumelite-4 an Technology Demonstration nano-satellite will be co-passenger satellite. This is the 57th flight of PSLV and  16th mission using the PSLV Core Alone configuration (PSLV-CA). PSLV-C55 adopted “Integrate, Transfer and Launch (ITL)” concept using PSLV Integration Facility (PIF).

India's 1st Solar Mission 'Aditya L-1' Launching By December

By the end of this year ISRO will launch the Aditya L1 mission. It is India's first solar mission.

IIT-BHU astronomers are also involved in this project.

Workshop on India's first solar mission 'Aditya L-1' satellite began at IIT-BHU. The workshop stated that the 'Aditya L1' satellite will be launched from ISRO by the end of December month. This will bring out the hidden secrets of the sun. Many astronomers of IIT-BHU are also involved in this 'Aditya L1' satellite mission project. IIT BHU scientists have earlier designed several satellite devices.

Aditya L1 is the first space based observatory class Indian solar mission to study the Sun. The spacecraft is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.

During the workshop, astronomers at IIT-BHU reported that it would be projected at the Lagarajian-1 point of space. It has a number of devices installed that will explain the physical and their raels of plasma processes equipped with a variety of energies in solar environments. This will provide information about the weather of the space and the entire conditions. Space will also predict the weather. At the same time, there will also be many new information about coronal heating, explosions on the surface of the sun and solar wind.

Scientist of Physics at IIT-BHU, Dr. Abhishek Srivastava said that in view of this huge potential of 'Aditya-L1' mission, a scientific workshop is being held in the institute on — "What are the challenges in solar physics and heliospheric physics" and "How we will solve them during the missio".

The Aditya-L1 mission carries a suit of seven scientific payloads to carry out systematic study of the Sun. This suit of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial information to understand the problems of coronal heating, Coronal Mass Ejection, pre-flare and flare activities, and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, study of the propagation of particles, and fields in the interplanetary medium etc.

The science payloads of Aditya-L1 are being indigenously developed by different laboratories in the country.

The VELC instrument is being developed at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore; SUIT instrument at Inter University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pune; ASPEX instrument at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; PAPA payload at Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram; SOLEXS and HEL10S payloads at UR Rao Satellite Centre, Bangalore, and the Magnetometer payload at the Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems, Bangalore. All the payloads are being developed with the close collaboration of various centres of ISRO.

To Boost Astro Tourism in India, Govt Setting Up India’s First-Ever "Night Sky Sanctuary" in Next 3 Months

In what could be called as unique and first-of-its-kind initiative in India's science & astronomy history, the Department of Science & Technology (DST) under Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India, has undertaken to set up India’s first-ever "Night Sky Sanctuary" in Ladakh in order to boost Astro tourism in India as one of the world’s highest-located sites for optical, infra-red, and gamma-ray telescopes.

The proposed Dark Sky Reserve, which will be completed within next three months, is situated at Hanle in Ladakh.

The upcoming Night Sky Sanctuary will be a part of Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, informed Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology.

Notably, Hanle is a historic village and home to the world's tallest astronomical observatory, and it was designated as a Dark Sky Sanctuary by The Union Territory administration in Ladakh, in early this year. Hanle is also home to a special "cherenkov telescope" called as "Major Atmospheric Cerenkov Experiment Telescope (MACE)". It is the highest (in altitude) and second largest Cerenkov telescope in the world.

For the launch of Night Sky Sanctuary the site, a tripartite MoU has been signed among the the Union Territory administration, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).

The upcoming "Dark Space Reserve" site will have activities to help in boosting local tourism and economy through interventions of Science and Technology. All the stakeholders will jointly work towards the preservation of the night sky from unwanted light pollution and illumination, which is a serious threat to the scientific observations and natural sky conditions. It may be noted that Hanle is best suited for this project as it is located in Ladakh’s cold desert region, away from any form of human disturbance and clear sky conditions and dry weather conditions exist throughout the year, the Minister added.

Besides, few private companies are also working on boosting astro-tourism in the country. Starscapes, a leading astro-tourism company in India, has been actively working towards promoting Dark Sky Locations in India in a bid to boost interest in astro-tourism

Earlier in last month, IIT Hyderabad established its first astronomical observatory with a large telescope for public outreach.

Prior to this, in  June this year, India's 1st and Asia's largest liquid mirror telescope was launched in Uttarakhand at campus of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) to keep a watch on the overhead sky to identify transient or variable objects such as supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, and asteroids.

Indian Scientists with the Help of James Webb Telescope Formulate Model To Trace Elusive Exo-Moons

This may also help detect habitable exo-moons in the future and understand new worlds beyond our own.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is touted as the most powerful telescope ever built, was successfully placed in outer space last year in December. And, with the help of this JWST, scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, have developed a model to trace the so far elusive exomoons – natural satellites that revolve around exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than the Sun).

So far, five thousand exoplanets --- planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, have been discovered by using several ground-based and space telescopes such as Kepler, CoRoT, Spitzer, and Hubble space telescopes. However, the natural satellites or exomoon around any of these planets still remain untraced.

Scientists at the IIA, Bangalore, which is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have demonstrated that the newly launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is sufficiently powerful to detect the transit signal of exomoons in the photometric light curves of moon hosting exoplanets.

Schematic diagram of moon hosting exoplanet and its model photometric transit light curve

Professor Sujan Sengupta and his graduate student Suman Saha have developed an analytical model that uses the radius and orbital properties of the host planet and its moon as parameters to model the photometric transit light curve of moon-hosting exoplanets by incorporating various possible orientations of the moon-planet-star system. 

The co-alignment or non-coalignment of the orbits of the planet and the moon are used as parameters (using two angular parameters), and they can be used to model all the possible orbital alignments for a star-planet-moon system. Using these generic models and the analysis of photometric transit light curves of exoplanets that is being obtained by JWST, a large number of exomoons can be detected in near future. 

According to the researchers, an exo-moon around a gas giant planet like Jupiter in the habitable zone of the host star where temperature is appropriate for water to exist in liquid state may harbour life. Under favourable alignment of moon-planet-star, such exomoon may also be detected by JWST. The research has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, which is published by the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

Indian Scientists Discover Helium Stars among parts of Omega Centauri Globular Cluster

IIA scientists discover He-enhanced cool bright stars among the metal-rich parts of Omega Centauri globular cluster

This is the first-ever spectroscopic determination of He-abundance in Omega Centauri

/PIB Delhi/ Globular clusters are the stellar systems with millions of stars formed from the same gaseous cloud.  Hence, usually, the stars formed will be homogeneous in their chemical composition of elemental abundances. But, there are clusters which deviate from this norm. One is being Omega Centauri, the brightest and the largest globular cluster in our Galaxy, the Milky Way.

The different stars of Omega Centauri do not show the same metal content, a parameter that indicates its age, but a large range in it. Due to the anomalous elemental abundances, the formation scenario may be different from normal. Normally, the abundances are derived using the assumption that He is one-tenth of the H-abundance.

A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India studied numerous stars of this cluster and discovered He-enhanced cool bright stars among the metal-rich sample of Omega Centauri. This work, a result of the spectroscopic survey conducted of this cluster, determines the He-abundance of these stars for the first time and has been published in ‘The Astrophysical Journal’.

Though there are estimations of He-enhancement in the H-core burning main-sequence stars (like Sun) of Omega Cen, this is the first-ever spectroscopic determination of He-abundance in Omega Centauri. The study provides a very important clue for the origin of the He-enhanced population establishing that these are the second generation of stars formed from the metal-rich and He-enhanced material from the first generation of stars. And, also that the He-enhanced main-sequence stars evolve to the metal-rich He-enhanced cool bright stars as our program starts.  

While in most stars, H is the most abundant element, if the abundance of H is reduced, correspondingly He abundance increases because the sum of H and He is a constant, and the other heavier elements are in traces. IIA team started their studies by using the low-resolution spectra obtained from the Optometric Medium Resolution Spectrograph (OMRS) installed with the Vainu Bappu Telescope, Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur, India for identifying the mildly H-poor/He-enhanced stars. 

However, they found that the H-atomic spectral lines are very strong in the spectra of stars, and the reliable measurement of abundance was not possible from such lines. Hence, IIA team used a novel technique that adopts model atmospheres with differing He/H ratio and the predicted light from these models was matched with observed light in neutral magnesium (Mg) atomic line and that in MgH molecular band in the observed high-resolution spectra to derive the star's actual H/He ratio which measures the amount of He.  In all the previous studies, the analyses were carried out assuming the normal H-abundance like for Sun (He/H=0.1). 

To measure the amount of He in these cool bright stars of Omega Centauri, using the high-resolution spectra obtained from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), Dr. Hema B. P.  and Prof. Gajendra Pandey of Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore have worked in association with Prof. Robert L. Kurucz, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA, and Prof. Carlos Allende Prieto,  Instituto de Astrofısica de Canarias and Departamento deAstrofisica, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife.

[Publication link: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab93bd]

Observed and the synthesized MgH bands for LEID 34225 are shown. The spectra synthesized for the Mg abundance derived from the Mg I lines and the best-fit value of He/H ratio are shown by the red dashed-dotted line. The synthesis for the two value of the He/H are also shown.

Indian Physicist To Co-Investigate NASA's Sun Studying Mission PUNCH

Dipankar Banerjee, solar physicist from Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), a Bangalore-based National Research Institute of India that conducts research in astronomy, astrophysics and related subjects, will now co-investigate a solar mission of US-based spacce agency, NASA, and called as PUNCH - Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, which is focused on understanding the transition of particles from the Sun’s outer corona to the solar wind that fills interplanetary space.

Prof. Dipanker Banerjee

Focussing the polar regions of the Sun, Banerjee will be working to study how the solar wind is accelerated. Solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona.

Notably, in 1960s Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 and NASA's Mariner 2 spacecraft have had detected solar wind particles in space and to date, the origins and acceleration mechanisms of the slow solar wind remained a mystery.

A constant outflow of solar material streams out from the Sun, depicted here in an artist's rendering. On June 20, 2019, NASA selected two new missions – the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission and Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) – to study the origins of this solar wind and how it affects Earth. Together, the missions support NASA’s mandate to protect astronauts and technology in space from such radiation. Credits: NASA.gov

In an interaction with a national daily, Prof. Banerjee has explained that "The Sun and the solar wind are one interconnected system, but [these] have until recently been studied using entirely different technologies and scientific approaches."

Prof. Banerjee holds Masters Degree in Theoretical Physics from University of Calcutta and had participated in an Air-borne Experiment (from Indian Air force air-craft) to photograph the solar corona during total solar eclipse happened in 24th October 1995.

Funded with $165 million, PUNCH will consist of a ‘constellation’ of four suitcase-sized microsats that will orbit the Earth in formation and study how the corona, which is the atmosphere of the Sun, connects with the interplanetary medium. The mission is expected to be launched in 2022.

Yesterday we announced two new missions to study the Sun and its influence on Earth — PUNCH and TRACERS. https://t.co/jP3f1cTz8M

Experts from both mission teams will be live on @reddit at 12:30pm ET to answer your questions! Join in: https://t.co/VrrIafCQ7j pic.twitter.com/vfQUjVL9wE

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) June 21, 2019

PUNCH mission will image and track the solar wind and also the coronal mass ejections – which are huge masses of plasma that get thrown out of the Sun’s atmosphere. The coronal mass ejections can affect and drive space weather events near the Earth.

India Gets Its First Robotic Telescope To Catch Infinite Universe

GROWTH-India telescope at Hanle, Laddakh

Stars and galaxies in the universe may appear to be static to us as they are located millions of light years away but they are moving part from each other along with lot of interesting objects and events such as supernovae, gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, and many more are occurring every second in the dynamic and infinite universe. To catch this, India has got its newest telescope to start observing the skies using robotic operations.

The remote village of Hanle in Ladakh, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, now houses the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), which at 4,500 metres above sea level is one of the world’s highest, and affords some of the clearest views of the skies. Since June 12, it’s also been home to India’s first robotic telescope, a device with a 70-cm lens that will also join network of 17 other countries across the globe. This network program is called as GROWTH -- Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen. Observatories in this network are located in a way that will allow uninterrupted observation of transient events.

A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human.

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Interestingly, fully robotic telescope will be remotely operated from 3,000 km away Indian Institute of Astrophysics's Centre For Research and Education in Science and Technology near Bangalore. The facility houses the control room for remote operations of the HCT and is the data hub for the telescope. The new telescope will be programmed to directly communicate with various ground-based and space-based surveys that are searching for transient sources.

The fully robotic telescope at Hanle costing Rs. 3.5 crore has been funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology. “The telescope is equipped with a sensitive camera that can detect some of the faint transients found by our partner survey telescopes like the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar, California.

For astronomers tracking transient events (short-lived cosmic occurrences that can last mere hours or days), this is a bonanza. When a survey telescope detects the start of something interesting, all GROWTH telescopes respond, says GC Anupama, an astrophysicist with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAp), who heads the project. “Rapid and constant communication within the network ensures a quick follow-up by the facilities that are suitably located. It allows researchers to gather data in the first 24 hours of an event to understand, on a physics level, what’s happening and why."

Universities and research institutes from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, Germany, Taiwan and Israel are part of the initiative. The primary research objective of the project is time domain astronomy, which entails the study of explosive transients and variable sources in the universe.

Also Read - Meet The Four Indian Scientists Behind Gravitational Waves Discovery

“Together with partner telescopes strategically located around the world, we can continuously monitor any interesting object in the sky - uninterrupted by daylight,” Anupama said.

By 2004, robotic observations accounted for an overwhelming percentage of the published scientific information on asteroid orbits and discoveries, variable star studies, supernova light curves and discoveries, comet orbits and gravitational microlensing observations.

It must also be noted that all early phase Gamma ray burst observations were carried by robotic telescopes.

See - https://sites.google.com/view/growthindia/first-light

Source - Vigyanprasar.gov.in | Hindustan Times