GROWTH – India Telescope

GROWTH - India Telescope.

Question: In which of the following state of India The GROWTH – India telescope, a joint project of Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and IIT Bombay has been installed?
a) Maharashtra
b) Ladakh
c) Himachal Pradesh
d) Goa
Answer :(b)
Related Facts:-

  • On August 30, 2021; the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).
  • The MoU, which is Valid for a period of five years, has been signed between the two, for extending the ongoing collaboration for operations and scientific utilisation of the GROWTH – India Telescope.
  • The GROWTH – India telescope-
  • The GROWTH – India telescope was set up jointly by IIA and IIT Bombay under a project and became operational in 2018.
  • It is a 0.7m wide-field telescope set up in Ladakh as a joint partnership between IIA and IIT Bombay.
  • The project has been supported by DST-SERB and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum.
  • Under this partnership, the organizations agreed to jointly continue the operations of the project.
  • IIT Bombay students will continue to remotely use this robotic telescope, and will use and develop tools for observations and data processing.
  • The operations of the GROWTH – India telescope are supported by generous contribution from IIT Bombay Alumni Class of 1994.
  • This interdisciplinary project will emphasize to undertake continuous studies of cosmic sources that have rapidly-varying properties.
  • Cosmic sources under the study of this telescope are emission from gravitational wave events, young supernovae and near-earth asteroids.
  • It is the country’s first fully-robotic optical telescope and one of the few such facilities present outside of Europe and the USA.
  • It has been instrumental in the research work carried on by IIT Bombay.
  • IIT Bombay students trained with this telescope collaborate with astronomers around the world.
  • The closest known asteroid (2020QG), that flew past Earth without impacting it, was discovered by two such students recently.

By – Rajesh Tripathi

Links:-
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1753148