INDIA’S FIRST ROBOTIC TELESCOPE

Why in news?

Recently, India’s first robotic telescope – Global

Relay of Observatories Watching Transients

Happen (GROWTH)-India, began its operation at

the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) in0000000

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.