IIT-Hyderabad sets up ‘darksky observatory’ for multi-disciplinary research

SANGAREDDY

The department of Physics at IIT-Hyderabad has set up Advanced Darksky Observatory (ADO) for multi-disciplinary research as part of National Science Day celebrations.

ADO will host a 0.5-metre robotic optical telescope (largest among small telescope categories) which will have a magnification of ~1000x, capabilities of resolving a structure as small as 25 km on the surface of the moon, individual rings of Saturn, detecting active galaxies up to a distance of 1.5 Giga light-years (1,419 billion kilometres).

Primarily designed as a frontier research facility in astronomy, the ADO, with adaptive imaging and multi-filter spectroscopy, will deliver imaging and spectroscopic data banks, which are expected to serve as valuable assets for research and modern teaching.

Due to its robotic capabilities, the observatory will be capable of integrating into the global telescope network system like NASA’s Global Telescope Network for urgent alerts to the scientific communities on transient celestial events, asteroids and meteorites. It will also complement ISRO’s current and future space-based astronomical observatories.

Honorary distinguished adviser in the Department of Space and former ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said: “If all engineering science capabilities of this institute are put together to build a new breed of instrumentation for space exploration, then you will be a major contributor.”

Director of IISER-Kolkata Prasanta K. Panigrahi also delivered a talk on ‘Emergence of quantum science and technology in the 21st century’.