India's First Astronomy Satellite

Abstract

AstroSat, India's first satellite for astromomy, was launched into a circular near-equatorial orbit, ~650 kms above the Earth by a polar satellite launch vecicle (PSLV) on september 28th, 2015, from SHAR. The satellite is designed to carry out simultaneous multi-wavelength observations in visible, near-ultraviolet (NUV), far-UV (FUV), soft X-rays and hard Xrays. There are five principal scientific payloads aboard the satellite for astronomical observations: (i) three Large Area Xenon Proportional Counters (LAXPCs) the largest space borne detectoes of thos kind, (ii) a Soft X-ray focusing Telescope (SXT), (iii) a Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride Imager (CZTI), (iv) two Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescopes (UVITs) one for visible and near-UV channels and another for far-UV, and (v) three Scanning Sky Monitors (SSMs). The first three of these and a charged particle monitor (CPM) were made in TIFR. All the X-ray telescopes have been switched on and are working very well. In the talk, I will review the history and development of X-ray astromomy to provide a rationale for Astrosat. A brief description of the design, construction, capabilities, scientific objectives of all the main scientific payloads. Results and images from the first light will be presented.