Astrosat delivers first Astronomer's telegram to ISRO

Photo credits: ISRO/ASTROSAT Mission

Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has received the first astronomer’s telegram (Atel no. 8185) from the Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) observations onboard Astrosat, which is India's first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory.

According to ISRO, the SSM was pointed to GRS 1915+105, an X-ray binary star system which features a regular star and a black hole, and caught it exhibiting the ‘beta’ class of variability on 14 October 2015.

ISRO said this is one of the many types of variability this source exhibits some of which are associated with its spectral states also.

The Indian space agency also said that the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) door was opened successfully on October 15, 2015, and it will observe the sky after about 10 days.

Earlier on october 9, 2015, Astrosat has delivered stunning view of the Crab Nebula captured by the Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) instrument. The Crab Nebula is the brightest hard X-ray source in the sky and and is very often used to calibrate hard X-ray detectors.

ISRO added the High voltage of Near UV, Visible channel and Far UV channel of the UV Imaging telescope (UVIT) has been switched on and detectors have been tested with low gain and found satisfactory and put back in off condition.

India's first space observatory Astrosat was succesfully launched into the orbit on a PSLV-XL on 28 September 2015, with its five scientific instruments, aimed at studying celestial bodies.