Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT)

Why in news?

Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) celebrates 10 Years of Operation of the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope on board AstroSat.

• AstroSat – Launched on September 28, 2015, carrying 5 payloads spanning ultraviolet to X-ray bands.
• The UVIT is the primary payload of AstroSat among the 5 payloads.
• UVIT’s core science areas –
  • Star formation in the Galaxy and nearby galaxies
  • Star formation history of the universe
  • Hot stars in globular clusters
  • Planetary nebulae
  • Transients and variability studies in UV

UVIT’s Feature & Role –

• India’s 1^st ultraviolet (UV) space telescope, unique globally for combining a large field of view with high spatial resolution(<1.5 arcseconds).
• Far-UV Observation Capability – The only operational telescope (besides the Hubble Space Telescope) capable of observing in the far-ultraviolet spectrum.
• Twin Telescope System – It observes near-UV (200–300 nm) and visual bands (320–550 nm) & far-UV (130–180 nm)
• Collaborations – Led by IIA, with support from IUCAA (Pune), TIFR (Mumbai), multiple ISRO centres (ISAC/URSC, LEOS, IISU, SAC), and the Canadian Space Agency.
• Set up Special “Clean Rooms” at IIA’s CREST campus (Hosakote) for sensitive fabrication.
• Key Discoveries & Highlights
  • Hot compact companion stars of Be stars
  • Blue Straggler Stars in clusters
  • Novae in the Andromeda galaxy
  • Extended UV disks in dwarf galaxies & planetary nebulae
  • Emission from distant galaxies at redshift 1.42
  • Correlations between UV and X-ray emissions in active galactic nuclei
  • Young star formation characteristics in galaxies
• Future Plans – India could now develop a bigger, next-generation space telescope called INSIST (Indian Spectroscopic and Imaging Space Telescope).

To know about AstroSat, click here

References

1. PIB |Celebrates 10 Years of Operation of the UVIT
2. IIA | Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT)