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

Astronomy & Astrophysics 65 simultaneous measurements over a broad energy range,AstroSat has other unique capabilities like the highest angular resolution in UV over a large field of view of 28 arcmin, largest collecting area in medium energy X-rays, X-ray polarisation measurement capability in hard X-rays for bright sources to name a few. With these unique capabilities, combined with simultaneous measurement capability, AstroSat has produced several interesting results. AstroSat is successfully being used to study star clusters, star formation in galaxies, accretion processes in binaries, supernova remnants, outbursts of novae and peculiar transients, X-ray polarisation in GRBs, active galactic nuclei and blazars and galaxy clusters. AstroSat data are archived and made available to the scientific community at large, allowing for production of science results beyond the original goals. These data will continue to be of immense use to the global scientific community even beyond the lifetime of themission. The recent launch of XPoSat with the X-ray polarimeter, Polix, has opened up a new, emerging area of X-ray polarimetry. Polix is the second such facility available globally. 4.2.5 GroundBasedHighEnergy Experiments For the very high energy -rays and cosmic rays India has developed and used several facilities over the years: Pachmarhi Array of Cherenkov Telescopes (PACT) from 2000-2011, High Altitude Gamma-ray ARray (HAGAR) telescope array at Hanle in the Ladakh region of Himalayas, and TACTIC at Mt. Abu. HAGAR is the first phase of HIGRO (Himalayan Gamma-Ray Observatory) collaboration comprising BARC, TIFR, IIA and SINP. A large area imaging Cherenkov telescope MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment) is setup, as a second phase of HIGRO at Hanle. This telescope, having 21-m diameter, is the world's third largest imaging telescope with a very low threshold of 30GeV. MACE-I is now in operation, andMACE-II is under development. 4.2.6 Solar Facilities The ground based observing facilities available for the observations of the Sun include those at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (IIA), the Udaipur Solar Observatory (PRL), the Gauribidanur Radio Observatory (IIAand RRI) and the solar telescope atARIES, Nainital. The Kodaikanal Observatory was established in 1899 as a Solar Physics Observatory and has the following facilities: A Solar Tower Telescope consisting of 60-cm diameter two-mirror fused quartz coelostat mounted on a 11-m tower platform that directs sunlight via a flat mirror into a 60-m long underground horizontal 'tunnel'. This telescope is equipped with a 38-cm aperture f/90 achromat for obtaining solar images, and also a Littrow-type spectrograph and a dual spectropolarimeter. A dual-channel full disk solar imaging telescope White light Active Region Monitor (WARM), consisting of a two-mirror coelostat. The telescope along with additional optics produces two images in perpendicular directions, in the photospheric 430.54 nm line, and the chromospheric 393.3nm line. ɤ • • MEGA SCIENCE VISION-2035