- India’s first multi-wavelength space-based observatory, Astrosat, completed five successful years of operation on September 28.
- The observatory has provided access to a number of young students and professors, apart from seasoned astronomers, to dig into scientific data for carrying out advanced research in this field.
- Launched in 2015 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the 1,513-kg Astrosat has onboard a wide range of payloads –
○Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT),
○Large Area X-Ray Proportional Counters (LAXPC),
○Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT),
○Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) ,
○Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) and
○Charged Particle Monitor (CPM).
- In the coming years, studying galaxies located close to the Milky Way will be among the many areas of research using this facility.
- Special focus would be on the study of star formation in such galaxies.
