MSV-2035 Astronomy Document - Inside Design - FINAL - FINAL

Astronomy & Astrophysics 58 Figure 8: Radio, optical and NIR facilities presently operational in the country. MEGA SCIENCE VISION-2035 capabilities for heliospheric studies, this upgrade is also expected to open other avenues of research particularly in the newly emerging areas of 21-cm intensity mapping and studies of transient radio sources. The larger field of view for OWFAalong with a flexible and high time resolution data collection permits a comprehensive search for transients. The Gauribidanur Observatory, located about 100 km from Bengaluru and jointly operated by the Raman Research Institute (RRI) and the Indian institute of Astrophysics (IIA) hosts two low frequency radio astronomy facilities. The first of these is the decametre wave facility, the GeeTee radio telescope that operates at 34.5 MHz and is an array of 1000 dipoles arranged in a 'T' configuration, with a 1.4 km East-West arm and a 0.5 km South arm. Operational since 1976, it has been used for studies of the Sun, pulsars in our Galaxy, radio recombination lines and an all sky survey at 34.5 MHz. Since 1997, a second facility has been operational by the IIA– the Gauribidanur Radio Heliograph. This is an array of 384 log-periodic dipoles operating in the frequency range of 40 - 150 MHz to obtain two dimensional images of the solar corona. On a larger scale, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), built and operated by NCRA, is one of the largest andmost sensitive low frequency radio observatories in the world. Commissioned in 2002, the GMRT is an array of 30