Astrosat: India’s First Space Observatory

Current Context: India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength Space Astronomy Observatory, AstroSat completed a decade of operations.

ABOUT AstroSat

• It was launched  by PSLV-C30 from Sriharikota in 2015.
• It was designed to observe the universe in the Visible, Ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum simultaneously with the help of its five payloads.
  • The payloads including Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC), Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride Imager (CZTI), Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) and Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM).
• Although initially designed for a five-year mission, AstroSat continues to deliver valuable scientific data a decade later.
• It has made significant discoveries across the electromagnetic spectrum, including studies on black holes, neutron stars, Proxima Centauri, and the first-time detection of far-ultraviolet photons from galaxies 9.3 billion light years away.