The Scientific Objectives of the ASTROSAT mission of ISRO
- Paper number
IAC-07-A3.1.01
- Author
Mr. V. Koteswara Rao, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), ISAC, India
- Coauthor
Prof. P.C. Agrawal, India
- Coauthor
Dr. P. Sreekumar, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), ISAC, India
- Coauthor
Mr. K. Thyagarajan, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), ISAC, India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
In this golden age of Space Astronomy high quality data is coming from several space-borne observatories like Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the XMM-Newton, Galex, FUSE and more recently the SUZAKU mission etc. These missions with capability of high resolution imaging, high resolution spectroscopy and large photon throughput, are leading to unprecedented advancements in imaging spectral and timing measurements and sensitivity in X-ray and UV bands. These missions have mostly narrow energy band capability in X-ray and UV. There is an urgent need to have a mission with broad spectral band observation capability in X-ray and UV. ASTROSAT is designed to fill this niche area using a range of experiments covering the range of 0.3 to 100 keV using X-ray CCDs for soft X-ray imaging, large area proportional counters and compound solid state detectors like CdZnTe with a coded mask for hard X-ray imaging. Further, a large UV telescope operating separately in the NUV and FUV along with an optical channel provides the highest angular resolution UV imaging along with a range of narrow and wide-band filters. The mission also carries an X-ray sky monitor to detect new x-ray transients and monitor known x-ray sources throughout the mission. This complement of scientific instruments, designed and developed by institutes in India, Canada and UK, is scheduled for launch in 2008 – 2009 time frame. As the first dedicated multiwavelength astronomy mission from India, ASTROSAT is expected to focus on high-resolution UV imaging for morphological studies of galactic and extragalactic objects, broad- band studies of x-ray sources and other multiwavelength targets ranging from nearby stars to the very distant active galactic nuclei. This paper deals with the scientific objectives of the ASTROSAT mission and brief description of the instruments to achieve the objectives.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-A3.1.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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