India's Robotic Telescope Spots Near Earth Object in Ladakh
We have one more exemplary from India’s scientific community this week, in form of GROWTH-India Telescope is able to capture a building sized asteroid which flies closer than Moon on nearest path around Earth. The inspiring event was shared by Varun Bhalerao of IIT Bombay’s Space Technology and Astrophysics Research lab (STAR) via X, which is Twitter now.
Bhalerao explained how the telescope was able to follow the fast motion of the asteroid in his post, which caused all background stars to be seen as lines due its rapid speed. Space eye view from the India telescope of asteroid 2020 QG as it safely passes Earth last night (15th August) in its closest flyby to our planet. This frame is a record of the fast movement of the asteroid: it crossed 10x lunar distance in only few minutes. This rapid motion makes background stars appear as streaks against relatively stationery galaxies and planets,” he wrote.
The photo went viral, garnering about 3,000 views and comments from people in India who were amazed at the astronomical accomplishments that their country had achieved. Comments like “Nice shot” and “Super India” flooded the post indicating a keen public interest in space exploration.
The GROWTH-India Telescope is the first, fully robotic optical research telescope in India and is located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Hanle. The innovation, done in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (read Bengaluru) and IIT Bombay. It is focused on research of transient and variable sources throughout the universe primarily using time-domain astronomy.
The telescope has a 0.7 x 0.7 degrees field of view and provides images at a pixel scale of about 0.2 arcseconds per pixel, positioning it at one the highest observatory sites in world (4500 meters above mean sea level). Due to its altitude and isolation, this spot in Ladakh is an ideal location for astronomical observations
The GROWTH project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and India Telescope is one of its components. The phenomenon’s observed by the GROWTH initiative are transient events in our universe, which not only informs us on how to better existing technologies but also further extends what we know about astronomy.
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Thane Professor Sentenced to 3 Years for Harassing MBBS Trainees
