Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad (IITH) celebrated National Science Day with the theme ‘Global Science for Global Well-Being’. Dr. K. Radhakrishnan (Padma Bhushan recipient), Eminent Adviser, Department of Space and Ex-Chairman of ISRO was present on the occasion. The Chief Guest of the event. He ‘ Delivered a reflective speech on ‘Tryst with an amazing ISRO and my life lessons’. IISER, Kolkata Director Prof P Panigrahi also delivered a popular speech on ‘Emergence of Quantum Science and Technology. 21st Century’.
As part of the National Science Day celebrations, an ‘Advanced Darksky Observatory’ (ADO) was established within the campus and was inaugurated today by Prof. BS Murthy, Director, IITH, Dean, HOD, in the presence of Dr. K. Radhakrishnan. Faculty, staff and students of IITH. The project is funded by IITH. ADO will host a 0.5-meter robotic optical telescope (the largest in the small telescope category) with a magnification of ~1000x, capable of resolving structures as small as 25 km on the Moon’s surface, Saturn’s individual rings, active detection 1.5 giga light-years (1419 billion km) away. galaxy up to Primarily designed as a frontier research facility in astronomy, ADO will provide imaging and spectroscopic data banks, including adaptive imaging and multi-filter spectroscopy, that will be valuable resources for research and modern education. Due to its upcoming fully robotic capabilities, the observatory will be able to integrate global telescope network systems such as NASA’s Global Telescope Network (GTN) for emergency alerts to the scientific community about transient celestial events, asteroids and meteorites. It will complement ISRO’s existing and future space-based astronomical observatories.
Referring to the importance of such an observatory, Dr. Radhakrishnan added, “This is a wonderful robotic telescope that you have developed here. If all the engineering science capabilities of this institute are combined to create a new instrument for space exploration, you will be a major contributor.” ”
Appreciating the efforts of Physics Department, IITH Director Prof BS Murthy said, “We should learn to dream passionately from Dr. Radhakrishnan. Knowing about stars, their existence, and many other questions is always exciting and dilemma for anyone; helpful in this situation. One of the options is a telescope. At IITH, we have installed a 14-inch telescope under a special ADO, which can give us a glimpse of the smallest details in space so that one can learn. More about them, make sure that knowledge about space , in general, improves and we can achieve self-reliance.”
“Here, we have an advanced observatory facility that will not only research astronomy, but also research in data science and management, machine learning, as well as robotics. Study stellar objects in more detail and discover new celestial objects, including exosolar planets. ADO is also a part of the international astronomy community. will and will complement space-based astronomy missions”, added Dr. Mayukh Pahari, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics.
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