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ASTROSAT: India's first astronomy satellite
After the successful performance of the satellite-borne Indian X-ray Astronomy
Experiment (IXAE), launched aboard Indian IRS-P3 satellite on March 21,
1996, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has approved instrument
development
for a full fledged astronomy satellite, named ASTROSAT, for timing, spectral
and imaging studies of celestial sources over a wide spectral band. A
large number of leading astronomy research institutions in India and abroad
are jointly building various instruments for the satellite. ASTROSAT is
likely to be launched into space by ISRO launcher PSLV in 2005-2006.
The principal objectives of ASTROSAT are :
- Studies of periodic and aperiodic variability in X-ray sources by
high time resolution photometry in 0.3 - 100 keV band,
- Broad band X-ray spectroscopic studies in 0.3 - 100 keV for
X-ray binaries, supernova remnants (SNRs), stellar coronae, AGNs etc.
- Multiwavelength studies of cosmic sources over a spectral band covering
UV (1300 - 3000 Å), low energy X-rays (0.3 - 8 keV) and high energy
X-rays (2 - 100 keV) from simultaneous observation with different instruments.
- Detection and location of new transient X-ray sources and continuous
monitoring of known X-ray sources, and
- Multi-band all-sky survey covering Ultraviolet band from 1300 - 3000
Å in six months going down to the 20th magnitude.
Instrument Configuration for ASTROSAT
The ASTROSAT mission will have five instruments:
- A cluster of 3 identical Large Area Xenon Proportional Counters (LAXPC)
for timing and low resolution spectral studies in 2 - 80 keV band,
- A CZT array detector with coded mask aperature for moderate resolution
spectroscopy in 10 - 100 keV band and imaging,
- SXT for moderate resolution imaging and medium
resolution spectroscopy in 0.3 - 8.0 keV band,
- An Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) for all-sky UV survey as well
as ultraviolet and multi-frequency studies, and
- SSM, based on the use of a position sensitive proportional counter
with a one dimensional coded mask aperture for monitoring X-ray sky
Summary of the characteristics of ASTROSAT instruments
For more informations and current development status of each instruments
please go through following papers:
NOTE: The papers are in the 'postscript' format which can be read GSView/Ghostscript included with this CD.
- Windows version: Instal Ghostscript (run the file gs703w32.exe) and GSView (run the file gsv41w32.exe).
- Linux version: Almost all Linux distrubutions include postscript viewer.
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