India to launch its first space telescope
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029223
Nature : The Indian Space Research Organisation is gearing up to launch its first astronomy satellite on 28 September. Astrosat will carry five instruments for studying a wide band of wavelengths, including light in the visible, UV, and x-ray range. Although the country has several ground-based telescopes, they can only detect radio, IR, and other low-frequency radiation that is not blocked by Earth’s atmosphere. Unlike most other space-based x-ray telescopes, which focus on individual objects, Astrosat will be able to track multiple x-ray sources over large areas of the sky. It will also be able to gather data on x-ray bursts that would be too bright for other instruments, such as NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
