GROWTH India telescope in Ladakh captures 2011 MW1 Asteroid

GROWTH INDIA TELESCOPE

Source: IndiaToday

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Context

The GROWTH-India Telescope, located in Hanle, Ladakh, recently captured images of asteroid 2011 MW1 as it made a close approach to Earth.

Details

This asteroid, approximately 116 meters in size, traveled at a speed of 28,946 kilometers per hour and passed at a distance of about 10 times the lunar distance.
The rapid motion of the asteroid was so swift that it caused background stars to appear as streaks in the telescope's images.
The GROWTH-India Telescope, India's first fully robotic optical research telescope, is part of the GROWTH project, an international network of observatories focused on time-domain astronomy.
This project is a collaborative effort involving institutions such as the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum.
The network aims to provide continuous monitoring of interesting celestial events, ensuring observations are not interrupted by daylight.
2011 MW1 was classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) and it came close to Earth at a staggering speed of 28,946 kilometers per hour.

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GROWTH PROJECT

The GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) project is funded by the National Science Foundation.

GROWTH is a collaborative project among California Institute of Technology (USA), University of Maryland College Park (USA), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (USA), Texas Tech University (USA), San Diego State University (USA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), National Central University (Taiwan), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (India), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (India), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), The Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University (Sweden), Humboldt University (Germany), Liverpool John Moores University (UK).

GROWTH-India Telescope (GIT)

Location:Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Hanle, Ladakh, India
Altitude:4500 meters above sea level
Primary Goal:Observing transient astronomical events and variable sources.

Key Features

Type:Fully robotic, autonomous telescope
Design:Planewave 0.7m Corrected Dall-Kirkham (CDK) optical design
Primary Mirror Diameter:7 meters
Focal Ratio:f/6.5
Focal Length:4540 mm
Field of View:2 degrees diameter circle
Camera:Andor iKon-XL 230 CCD with 16.8 megapixels and back-illuminated sensor

Scientific Contributions

Primary Focus:Detection and analysis of transient phenomena such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and near-Earth asteroids.
Notable Discoveries:
- Observed tidal disruption events where stars are consumed by black holes.
- Provided critical follow-up observations for various transient events.

Major Telescopes In India

*Telescope Name*	*Type*	*Location*	*Aperture*	*Operational Since*	*Key Features and Missions*
GROWTH-India Telescope	Robotic Optical Telescope	Hanle, Ladakh	0.7 meters	2018	Time-domain astronomy, fast transients, and variable sources.
Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)	Radio Telescope Array	Pune, Maharashtra	45 meters	2002	Studies in radio astronomy, particularly in the 150 MHz to 1.5 GHz range. Largest interferometric array in the world at meter wavelengths.
Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT)	Optical and Infrared Telescope	Hanle, Ladakh	2.01 meters	2000	High-altitude observations, optical and near-infrared imaging, and spectroscopy.
IndIGO (Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations)	Gravitational-wave Observatory	Hingoli, Maharashtra	-	-	Part of the global LIGO network, detecting gravitational waves.
Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO)	Solar Telescope	Udaipur, Rajasthan	50 cm	1975	Solar observations, including solar magnetic fields, flares, and other solar phenomena.
Kodaikanal Solar Observatory	Solar Telescope	Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu	40 cm	1899	Long-term solar studies, including sunspots, solar flares, and prominences.
ARIES 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope	Optical Telescope	Nainital, Uttarakhand	3.6 meters	2016	Largest optical telescope in India, wide-field imaging, and spectroscopy.
Vainu Bappu Telescope (VBT)	Optical Telescope	Kavalur, Tamil Nadu	2.3 meters	1986	Optical astronomy, wide-field imaging, and spectroscopy.
Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT)	Radio Telescope	Ooty, Tamil Nadu	530 meters	1970	Studies in pulsar astronomy, interstellar scintillation, and other radio astronomy phenomena.
Meghnad Saha Telescope	Optical Telescope	Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital	1.04 meters	2010	Optical and near-infrared observations, studies of variable stars, and photometry.

Types of Telescopes

*Telescope Type*	*Aperture Range*	*Focal Ratio (f/number)*	*Key Features & Uses*	*Pros*	*Cons*
Refractor Telescopes	60mm to 150mm	f/5 to f/15	Uses lenses to bend light; ideal for viewing planets and the moon	Low maintenance, good color contrast, easy to use	More expensive per inch of aperture, chromatic aberration
Reflector Telescopes	100mm to 500mm+	f/4 to f/8	Uses mirrors to reflect light; suitable for deep-sky observations	Cost-effective, larger apertures possible, no chromatic aberration	Requires regular maintenance, collimation needed, prone to optical errors like coma
Dobsonian Telescopes	150mm to 600mm	f/4 to f/6	A type of Newtonian reflector with a simple mount; great for beginners	Low cost for large aperture, simple design, easy DIY construction	Bulky, not easily transportable
Maksutov-Cassegrain	90mm to 180mm	f/12 to f/15	Compound telescope with a spherical mirror and a corrector lens	Compact design, good for planetary and lunar viewing, low maintenance	More expensive, smaller aperture for price, longer cool-down time
Schmidt-Cassegrain	100mm to 400mm+	f/10	Compound telescope with a corrector plate and a spherical primary mirror	Versatile, portable, good for both planetary and deep-sky viewing	More expensive, requires regular collimation, can suffer from image shift

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Sources:

IndiaToday

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q: Consider the following statements about major telescopes in India:

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project involves collaboration with Indian scientists.
The Astrosat is India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory.
The ARIES telescope is located in Tamil Nadu.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2, and 3

Answer: a)