DOCSLIB.ORG

Productivity of Indian Telescopes: Impact Analysis Through Scientometric Methods by Meera B.M

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Productivity of Indian Telescopes: Impact Analysis Through Scientometric Methods by Meera B.M Productivity of Indian Telescopes: Impact Analysis through Scientometric methods By Meera B.M. & Manjunath M. Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India Abstract: This paper aims to study the productivity of modern Indian telescopes installed after India attained Data representation and analysis independence from colonial rule. However, there is one telescope which was built during colonial rule and still Collective productivity data from all telescopes is represented below functional. Productivity measure is the number of papers published from 14 telescopes under study. Astronomical data A comprehensive table (1) represents data from 14 telescopes of India which are under study. observed through these telescopes gets transformed into research papers. Such papers further get used by their peers and Telescope Name Telescope type Year Year of Total No. Total Average H-Index Total No. of get cited. This is the actual impact of the telescopes in terms of scholarship. This aspect will be analyzed in this paper established publicat of papers No. of citations Number Authors Total Productivity of Total Refereed using scientometric indicators. ion of published citations per of with 14 Indian Telescopes Metrics first received paper authors Foreign Number of papers 1,643 1,144 Indian Astronomical studies dates back to 1500 B C. Astronomy was article affiliation Introduction: (%) Total reads 326,351 310,594 considered as “Auxiliary discipline” with the study of Veda (Knowledge base originated in Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, Solar Observatory 1899 1904 361 689 1.9 15 395 165 (41%) Kodaikanal Average reads 198.6 271.5 ancient India comprising of large body of text). Original application of astronomy was Ooty Radio Telescope, Ooty Radio Telescope 1970 1971 114 792 6.9 16 132 30 (23%) Number of citations 13,599 13,083 religious and later this had Greek influence during 4th century. “Aryabhata” is one of the Sampurnanand Telescope, Optical Telescope 1972 2010 6 47 7.8 5 42 23 (55%) ARIES, Nainital Average citations 8.3 11.4 th earliest astronomers in 6 century who popularized this as science in Ancient India. There has Mauritius Radio Telescope Radio Telescope 1972 1994 20 40 2.0 3 30 18 (60%) h-index 46 46 Udaipur Solar Observatory, Solar Observatory 1975 1993 170 1284 7.6 18 194 97 (50% been number of records to substantiate that “Astronomy” was studied during early period. Udaipur Table - 2 Early studies do not indicate the usage of any instruments and naked eye observations were the Raman Research Institute Radio Telescope 1975 1991 23 92 4.0 6 15 3 (20%) earliest to record events. Man observing his own shadow to know time was the first application Gauribidanur Radio Observatory Radio Telescope 1976 1975 82 405 4.9 12 87 21 (24%) Gauribidanur Figure - 2 Figure - 3 Vainu Bappu Observatory, Optical observatory 1986 1986 84 395 4.7 12 241 117 (49%) of astronomy. Early reference to Indian astronomical instruments in literature is given about Kavalur Analysis of Table 2: a) The armillary sphere b) Clypsydra (water clock) c) Gnomon ( a vertical stick). These Mount Abu Observatory, Infrared telescope 1990 1991 95 865 9.1 16 178 91 (51%) Mount Abu All the 14 private libraries that were built to each of the Indian telescopes under study were instruments were used to estimate the rising and setting of sun, moon and stars, to identify Giant Meterwave Radio Radio Telescope 1995 1999 436 6923 15.9 39 1184 958 (81%) merged. This was called "All telescopes". Data from this private library of all telescopes is Telescope, Pune phases of moon, lunar and solar eclipse Himalayan Chandra Telescope, Optical Infrared 2001 2000 185 1891 10.2 24 1079 938 (87%) elicited in table 2. There is 1643 papers published using Indian telescope facility since Hanley telescope Ancient Astronomical Observations in India were done through: HAGAR Telescope, High Energy 2001 2001 20 126 6.3 6 91 6 (6%) 1899, the first paper being published in 1904 by Kodaikanal observatory in their bulletin. The Hanley Gamma ray first international publication from India was in "Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Telescope IUCAA Girawali Observatory, Optical Telescope 2006 1999 76 291 3.9 9 330 200 (60%) Society' in 1906. Pune 130cm Devastal telescope, Optical Telescope 2007 2010 14 43 3.1 5 88 57 (64%) On an average these papers have got 8.3 citations. H-index for collective productivity of all ARIES, Nainital telescopes publications is 46. We are unable to assess this number as we do not have data from Table - 1 another country for comparison. There are few studies reporting productivity of individual Naked Eye Armillary Sphere Clepsydra Gnomon Note: There are few preliminary reports about telescopes in the form of research papers which have appeared even telescopes. However, there are few comparative studies of selected telescopes. Authors did not before the actual year of telescope establishment Invention of telescope by Galileo in the early part of 17th century had its influence on Indian find any studies reported by any other country reporting total productivity of telescopes of a astronomers as European traveler’s gifted telescopes to Mughal emperors. However, there has Graphical representation of the Table – 1 with respect to No. of publications, Total No. of nation. H-index 46 seems to be a good quality measure with respect to impact of the telescope been a written reference to Sawai Jai Singh II, the remarkable Monarch of Jaipur, a Citations received and H-Index of 14 telescopes is given below in Figure - 1 productivity. mathematician, an astronomer, and a town planner, par excellence setting up the famous Year-wise (10 years coupled) distribution of papers published from 1904-2013 observatories, known as Jantar Mantars during 18th century. There are documentary evidences 7000 6000 for his telescopic observations. It was with East India Company’s political entry to India, nine Years Number of papers h-Index h-Index th 5000 observatories were established during 19 century, the first being Madras observatory which 1904-1913 40 2 4000 45 1914-1923 26 1 40 had its existence from 1792-1900. However, it is the Solar Observatory at Kodaikanal which 35 3000 1924-1933 0 0 30 was started in 1901 is still functional. Rest of them have ceased their operations. No. of papers published 1934-1943 4 0 25 2000 20 No. of citations received 1944-1953 3 0 15 h-Index 10 1000 h-index 1954-1963 3 1 Astronomical Observatories established during Moghul rule followed by East 5 0 0 1964-1973 13 5 India Company 1974-1983 66 8 1984-1993 157 14 1. Madras Observatory(1792–1900) 1994-2003 419 28 Figure - 5 2. The Royal Observatory at Lucknow (1835–1849) 2004-2013 895 41 3. Raja of Travancore Observatory at Trivandrum (1842–1865) Table - 3 Figure - 4 4. Capt.W.S.Jacob’s Observatory at Poona (1842–1862) Figure - 1 5. St.Xavier College Observatory at Calcutta (1875–ca.1918) Analysis of Table 3: 6. Maharaja Takhtasinghji Observatory at Poona (1882–1912) Analysis of Table 1 First two decades from 1904 have got 40 and 26 publications respectively. After that there 7. Hennessy Observatory at DehraDun (1884–1898) From table- 1, one can observe that there are 14 major telescopes being productive. India has 2 has been a sudden decline in the next four decades. Steady growth in publications is 8. Solar Observatory at Kodaikanal (1901–todate) solar telescopes (532 papers) ; 5 radio telescopes (675 papers); 3 optical telescopes (104 papers); observed in the last five decades ranging from 1974 – 2013. This is justifiable as the 9. Nizamiah Observatory at Hyderabad (1901–1954) 2 optical infrared telescopes (258 papers); 1 infrared telescope (95 papers) and 1 high energy telescopes were built and installed one after the other since 1970. H-index for the year-wise With this prologue the present study aims to identify the different telescopes that are installed gamma ray telescope (20 papers). The table has been listed in the ascending order of year of distribution is also commensurate with the publication pattern. in India in the Modern astronomy context. India is the seventh largest country in the establishment. The most productive telescope is Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and Conclusion: This study has aimed to address the productivity of telescopes of a nation. world, with a total area of 3,166,414 square kilometers. In this vast land as of now there are this was established in the year 1999. So, year has no correlation with the productivity. All put Productivity is nothing but the papers published using telescope facility for astronomical about 14 major telescopes. together 1643 papers are published using Indian telescopes. Highest citations are received by the studies. Collective productivity is a list of all the publications generated by all the telescopes GMRT papers, followed by Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) and the third position is taken Methodology: in the nation. Therefore, a study of this kind can be the first step to generate 'Telescope by Udaipur Solar telescope. H-indexes of these telescopes are also commensurate with number bibliography' of a nation. When we say productivity, we mean number of papers published using respective telescope of publications and number of citations. This paper also studies another aspect to know the usage Telescopes bear huge investments to a country. Number of papers published using these facility. This data was collected for most of the telescopes from the observatories web sites or by Indian authors Vs authors of foreign origin. Telescope facility of HCT is used highly (87%) from their institutional repositories. For the other telescopes, we had to depend on NASA ADS telescopes is a quantitative measure of the outcome as compared to the investment made for data base, by giving the exact telescope name as search term in the key word search box.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • PRECISE PHOTOMETRIC TRANSIT FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS of FIVE CLOSE-IN EXOPLANETS : UPDATE on THEIR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES Aritra Chakrabarty†1, 2 and Sujan Sengupta‡1
    Draft version May 28, 2019 Typeset using LATEX default style in AASTeX62 PRECISE PHOTOMETRIC TRANSIT FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS OF FIVE CLOSE-IN EXOPLANETS : UPDATE ON THEIR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES Aritra Chakrabartyy1, 2 and Sujan Senguptaz1 1Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala 2nd Block, Bangalore 560034, India 2University of Calcutta, Salt Lake City, JD-2, Kolkata 750098, India (Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal) ABSTRACT We report the results of the high precision photometric follow-up observations of five transiting hot jupiters - WASP-33b, WASP-50b, WASP-12b, HATS-18b and HAT-P-36b. The observations are made from the 2m Himalayan Chandra Telescope at Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle and the 1.3m J. C. Bhattacharyya Telescope at Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur. This exercise is a part of the capability testing of the two telescopes and their back-end instruments. Leveraging the large aperture of both the telescopes used, the images taken during several nights were used to produce the transit light curves with high photometric S/N (> 200) by performing differential photometry. In order to reduce the fluctuations in the transit light curves due to various sources such as stellar activity, varying sky transparency etc. we preprocessed them using wavelet denoising and applied Gaussian process correlated noise modeling technique while modeling the transit light curves. To demonstrate the efficiency of the wavelet denoising process we have also included the results without the denoising process. A state-of-the-art algorithm used for modeling the transit light curves provided the physical parameters of the planets with more precise values than reported earlier.
    [Show full text]
  • Indian Institute of Astrophysics
    Indian Institute of Astrophysics The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous research institute funded by the Department of Science & Technology, is devoted to research in Astronomy & Astrophysics, and the Related Physics and Instrumentation. IIA has a rich history of over two centuries and has to its credit some important discoveries such as those of the Evershed effect, atmosphere on Jupiter's satellite Ganymede, the rings around Uranus and the asteroid Ramanujan. Research Programmes Research fields in Astronomy & Astrophysics at IIA range from the studies of the nearby sun and solar system objects to the distant galaxies, quasars and gamma-ray burst sources. Sun and the Solar System - Solar activity - sunspots, prominences; Solar Chromosphere and Corona; Comets; Solar Terrestrial relationships Stellar Physics - Formation and Evolution of Stars; Comet Machholz Planetary Nebulae; Stellar Atmospheres; Star observed from VBO Clusters; Stellar Variability; Novae; Supernovae; Brown Dwarfs, Pulsars Solar Corona Extragalactic Astronomy - Star formation in galaxies; Activity in Galaxies; Groups and Clusters of Galaxies; Gamma-ray burst events Theoretical Astrophysics and Related Physics - Magnetohydrodynamic and Radiative Processes in Astrophysical Objects; Structure of Neutron Stars; Blackhole Physics; Structure and Dynamics of Galaxies and Star Clusters; General Theory of Relativity; Cosmology; Astroparticle Physics; Atomic and Molecular Physics NGC 925 observed with the 2m HCT Instrumentation - UV Imaging Telescope for the Indian Astronomy Satellite (ASTROSAT); back-end instruments for the various observing facilities. Facilities The Institute's research activities are supported by excellent facilities at its headquarters in Bangalore and its field stations at Kodaikanal, Kavalur, Gauribidanur, Hosakote and Hanle. The Solar Observatory: located at Kodaikanal consists of a Tower Tunnel Telescope, Spectroheliographs and Ionosondes.
    [Show full text]
  • Indian Institute of Astrophysics Bangalore 560034
    Indian Institute of Astrophysics Bangalore 560034 The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) traces its origin to relativity, cosmology, astroparticle physics, atomic and a small private observatory set up during 1786 at Madras molecular physics. (Chennai), which led to the establishment of the Solar Observatory in 1899 at Kodaikanal. In 1971, the Facilities: Kodaikanal Observatory was made into an autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology, Kodaikanal Observatory: This Observatory has been the Government of India. With a rich history of over 200 years, principal center of activity in observational solar physics, IIA is a premier institute in the country devoted to basic for over a century. At present, the main facility is the solar research, instrumentation and training in astronomy, tunnel telescope fitted with a spectrograph, which is in astrophysics and related physical sciences. regular use since 1962; a spectro-polarimeter has also been added. This observatory has a unique collection of the Sun’s photographic images archived over the last hundred years. These images are now being digitized to study the finer details of the Sun, Sun-weather pattern etc. Daily observations of the solar photosphere and chromosphere are being obtained as a part of the synoptic study. It was in this Observatory, John Evershed discovered the radial motion in sunspots, now known as the Evershed effect, in 1909. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. Research Programmes: Sun and the Solar System - Solar activity, sunspots, prominences, solar chromosphere, comets, asteroids, eclipse observations, radio observations of the solar corona. Stellar Physics - Formation and evolution of stars, chemical abundance of elements, planetary nebulae, planetary rings, The solar tunnel telescope at the Kodaikanal observatory.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1505.04244V1 [Astro-Ph.IM] 16 May 2015 .Srinivasulu G
    Bull. Astr. Soc. India (2014) 42, 1–19 A new three-band, two beam astronomical photo-polarimeter 1 2 1 3 G. Srinivasulu ∗, A. V. Raveendran , S. Muneer †, M. V. Mekkaden , N. Jayavel4, M. R. Somashekar1, K. Sagayanathan1, S. Ramamoorthy1, 5 6 M. J. Rosario and K. Jayakumar ‡ 1Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034, India 2399, "Shravanam", 2nd Block, 9th Phase, J P Nagar, Bangalore 560108, India 3No 82, 17E Main, 6th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560095, India 4No 22, Bandappa lane, New Byappanahalli, Bangalore 560038, India 5210, 4th Main, Lakshmi Nagar Extn, Porur, Chennai 600116, India 624, Postal Nagar, Ampuram, Vellore-632009, India Received 2014 July 23; revised ; accepted Abstract. We designed and built a new astronomical photo-polarimeter that can meas- ure linear polarization simultaneously in three spectral bands. It has a Calcite beam- displacement prism as the analyzer. The ordinary and extra-ordinary emerging beams in each spectral bands are quasi-simultaneously detected by the same photomultiplier by using a high speed rotating chopper. A rotating superachromatic Pancharatnam halfwave plate is used to modulate the light incident on the analyzer. The spectral bands are isolated using appropriate dichroic and glass filters. We show that the reduction of 50% in the efficiency of the polarimeter because of the fact that the intensities of the two beams are measured alternately is partly com- pensated by the reduced time to be spent on the observation of the sky background. The use of a beam-displacement prism as the analyzer completely removes the polar- ization of backgroundskylight, which is a major source of error during moonlit nights, especially, in the case of faint stars.
    [Show full text]
  • Multi-Band Observations of Gamma Ray Bursts
    J. Astrophys. Astr. (2002) 23, 123–127 Multi-band Observations of Gamma Ray Bursts S. G. Bhargavi Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560 034, India email: [email protected] Abstract. This talk focuses on the various aspects we learnt from multi- band observations of GRBs both, before and during the afterglow era. A statistical analysis to estimate the probable redshifts of host galaxies using the luminosity function of GRBs compatible with both the afterglow redshift data as well as the overall population of GRBs is discussed. We then address the question whether the observed fields of GRBs with precise localizations from third Inter-Planetary Network (IPN3) contain suitable candidates for their host galaxies. Key words. Gamma rays: bursts—CCD: observations—Methods: statistical. 1. Studies before the afterglow era In 1994–95 we undertook a program to carry out an optical survey of a few GRB fields chosen from the IPN3 catalog (Hurley 1995, private communication; Laros et al. 1998; Hurley et al. 2000). Deep CCD imaging of these fields was carried out at the 2.34 m and 1.02 m telescopes of Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO), Kavalur until 1998. It was an attempt to identify the transient/quiescent counterparts of GRBs on the basis of photometric studies. For details on observations and photometric data analysis see Bhargavi (2001). In similar investigations the observers either looked for peculiar objects (Vrba et al. 1995) or an over-abundance of certain class of objects (Larson 1997) in their deep imaging surveys of IPN GRBs. None of our efforts led to an identification of a GRB counterpart.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Introduction 2 Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur, Indian Institute
    GROUND-BASED OPTICAL ASTRONOMY IN INDIA M.Parthasarathy, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore - 560034 India Abstract There is considerable progress in the ground based optical astronomy in India during the last 25 years. During the period 1965 to 1995 four one meter class telescopes and one 2.3m telescope have corne into operation. The number of users of these facilities has increased considerably. The existing optical telescpes in India are heavily over-subscribed and are not large enough for observing fainter stars and faint and distant galaxies . There is an urgent need to set up at good sites in India 4m class new technology telescopes and a few 1m and 2m class telescopes equipped with upto date auxiliary instruments. 1 Introduction During the last 30 years, a number of telescopes have become available in India for astronomical observations over different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum ranging from Gamma-rays, X-rays, optical, infrared and radio wavelength regions. In this paper the existing facilities for ground-based optical astronomy in India are described. The research work in optical astronomy in India and future plans to set up new 2m to 4m class telescopes are also described. There are five major existing optical telescopes in India: (i) a 1m Carl-Zeiss telescope at Naini Tal, (ii) a 1.2m Baker reflector at Rangapur near Hyderbad, (iii) a 1m Carl-Zeiss telescope and a 2.3m Vainu Bappu Telescope (VBT) at Kava1ur, (iv) a 1.2m infrared telescope at Gurusikhar near Mount Abu. There are also three main solar observatories in India at Kodaikanal, Udaipur and N aini Tal.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Time Optical Spectroscopy of Supernova SN 1998S
    A&A 367, 506–512 (2001) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20000427 & c ESO 2001 Astrophysics Early time optical spectroscopy of supernova SN 1998S G. C. Anupama, T. Sivarani, and G. Pandey Indian Institute of Astrophysics, II Block Koramangala, Bangalore 560 034, India Received 26 June 2000 / Accepted 4 December 2000 Abstract. We present medium-resolution optical spectra of the type II supernova SN 1998S obtained during the pre-maximum, maximum and early decline phases. The early decline spectra show complex Balmer line profiles: a narrow P-Cygni emission feature superimposed on a broad emission. The narrow emission has a redshift similar to that of the host galaxy, indicating its origin from a pre-supernova circumstellar material. The Hα luminosity of the broad component implies a shell mass of ∼0.1 M for the supernova ejecta, while the luminosity of the −4 −1 narrow component implies a mass loss rate of 10 M yr for the precursor. The photospheric temperature of the supernova shell decreased from a value of 18 400 2900 K on day 17 to a value of 7500 1200 K on day 44. The observations indicate SN 1998S belongs to type IIn supernovae where the supernova ejecta dynamically interact with a pre-supernova circumstellar material. Key words. supernovae: general – supernovae: individual (SN 1998S) 1. Introduction or broad (FWHM ∼ 5000–10000 km s−1) base. The cen- troid of the base is blue-shifted relative to the narrow por- The supernova SN 1998S was discovered in the SCII.2 tion of the profile. The continuum is bluer than normal galaxy NGC 3877 on 1998 March 2.68 by Z.
    [Show full text]
  • LIEMFO-Anupama
    Follow-up of GW-EM in Optical and NIR G.C. Anupama Indian Institute of Astrophysics EM counterparts of GW Sources Electromagnetic Observations • Nature of GW source – BH events, BNS, Collapse of massive stars, WD collapse (?) • Pinning down the position of the sources • Identify the host galaxy and environment • Suite of telescopes and instruments spread across the globe • (γ − rays, X-rays, UV), Optical, NIR, (mm, radio) - Photometry, spectroscopy, polarization • Wide field optical and NIR transient search observations • Deep observations – several transients – important to have rapid spectroscopic observations for source classification • Long term monitoring Observing Facilities in India • Longitudinal Advantage Existing Facilities Vainu Bappu Observatory ■ Established in late 1960s ■ Location: 12d 34m N; 78d 50m E; Altitude: 720m ■ 175kms South-East of Bangalore 2.3 metre Vainu Bappu Telescope F/3.25 primary mirror; F/13 Cassegrain focus • Cassegrain OMR low resolution spectrograph (R=500-2000) • VBT Fiber-fed Echelle Spectrograph (Prime focus fiber feed; R=30000, 70000) 1 metre Zeiss telescope F/13 Cassegrain focus • Low resolution spectrograph (UAGS) • PhotoPolarimeter 1.3 metre Telescope F/8 Cassegrain focus; 30 arcminute corrected field. • 2K X 4K imager and 1K X 1K rapid imager • FoV: 5.5 X 11 arcmin Indian Astronomical Observatory Mt. Saraswati (Digpa-ratsa Ri), Hanle ■ Location: 32d46m46s N; 78d57m51s E ■ High altitude Gamma Ray Array Telescope (HAGAR) ■ Altitude: 4500m (15000ft) ■ 22m Imaging Cherenkov Telescope (MACE) – under
    [Show full text]
  • Development of Image Motion Compensation System for 1.3 M Telescope at Vainu Bappu Observatory
    RAA 2020 Vol. 20 No. 1, 12(14pp) doi: 10.1088/1674–4527/20/1/12 R c 2020 National Astronomical Observatories, CAS and IOP Publishing Ltd. esearch in Astronomy and http://www.raa-journal.org http://iopscience.iop.org/raa Astrophysics Development of image motion compensation system for 1.3 m telescope at Vainu Bappu Observatory Sreekanth Reddy Vallapureddy⋆, Ravinder Kumar Banyal, Sridharan Rengaswamy, P Umesh Kamath and Aishwarya Selvaraj Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034, India; [email protected] Received 2019 July 16; accepted 2019 August 28 Abstract We developed a tip-tilt system to compensate the turbulence induced image motion for the 1.3m telescope at Vainu Bappu Observatory, at Kavalur. The instrument is designed to operate at the visible wavelength band (480 700nm) with a field of view of 1′ 1′. The tilt corrected images have demonstrated − × up to 57% improvement in image resolution and a corresponding peak intensity increase by a factor of ≈ 2.8. A closed-loop correction bandwidth of 26Hz has been achieved with on-sky tests and the root ≈ ≈ mean square motion of the star image has been reduced by a factor of 14. These results are consistent ∼ with theoretical and numerical predictions of wave-front aberrations caused by atmospheric turbulence and image quality improvement expected from a real-time control system. In this paper, we present details of the instrument design, laboratory calibration studies and quantify its performance on the telescope. Key words: adaptive optics — atmospheric effects — high angular resolution 1 INTRODUCTION times also called the angle of arrival fluctuations.
    [Show full text]
  • Observing Facilities of IIA
    Observing Facilities of IIA IIA Bangalore The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), with its headquarters in Bangalore (Karnataka state), India, is a premier national institute of India for the study of and research into topics pertaining to astronomy, astrophysics and related subjects. The Institute has a network of laboratories and observatories located in various places in India, including Kodaikanal (the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory), Kavalur (the Vainu Bappu Observatory), Gauribidanur, Hanle (the Indian Astronomical Observatory) and Hosakote. Indian Astronomical Observatory Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur The Indian Astronomical Observatory, the 2.34m VBT high-altitude station of IIA is situated at an M.K. V. Bappu, the founder altitude of 4500 metres above mean sea Director of IIA had set up an level to the north of Western Himalayas. A observatory for the night time 2-m optical infrared telescope (HCT) is observations at Kavalur located in installed at the observatory. This telescope javadi hills of Tamilnadu, to access is remotely operated from CREST, the celestial objects both in the north Hosakote, using a dedicated satellite links and southern hemispheres. With a 15 and being used by Indian astronomers inch refractor and a 30 inch reflector since 2001. Telescope is equipped with instruments called HFOSC & NIRCam. operating from late 60s, a 1M Carl Observatory also host 0.5m robotic Zeiss reflector was installed in 1973. telescope for monitoring transient objects Development of an indigenous as well as a Gamma ray telescope2m HAGAR HCT 2.34M reflector was initiated by Dr to study AGN’s pulsars, and host of Bappu. The telescope was completed astrophysical sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Once in a Blue Moon: Detection of 'Bluing' During Debris Transits in The
    Once in a blue moon: detection of ‘bluing' during debris transits in the white dwarf WD 1145+017 Item Type Article Authors Hallakoun, N.; Xu (), S.; Maoz, D.; Marsh, T. R.; Ivanov, V. D.; Dhillon, V. S.; Bours, M. C. P.; Parsons, S. G.; Kerry, P.; Sharma, S.; Su, K.; Rengaswamy, S.; Pravec, P.; Kušnirák, P.; Kučáková, H.; Armstrong, J. D.; Arnold, C.; Gerard, N.; Vanzi, L. Citation Once in a blue moon: detection of ‘bluing' during debris transits in the white dwarf WD 1145+017 2017, 469 (3):3213 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society DOI 10.1093/mnras/stx924 Publisher OXFORD UNIV PRESS Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Rights © 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. Download date 06/10/2021 05:37:47 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Version Final published version Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/625505 MNRAS 469, 3213–3224 (2017) doi:10.1093/mnras/stx924 Advance Access publication 2017 April 17 Once in a blue moon: detection of ‘bluing’ during debris transits in the white dwarf WD 1145+017 N. Hallakoun,1,2‹ S. Xu (),2 D. Maoz,1 T. R. Marsh,3 V. D. Ivanov,4,2 V. S. Dhillon,5,6 M. C. P. Bours,7 S. G. Parsons,5 P. Kerry,5 S. Sharma,8 K. Su,9 S. Rengaswamy,10 P. Pravec,11 P. Kusnirˇ ak,´ 11 H. Kucˇakov´ a,´ 12 J. D. Armstrong,13,14 C. Arnold,13 N. Gerard13 and L.
    [Show full text]
  • Bright Sparks Watermark.P65
    I NDIAN His favourite book was The Spirit of St Louis – the immortal saga of Charles Lindbergh. Vainu had a deep admiration for Homi Bhabha both as a scientist N and artist. Vainu’s artistic bent is on display in the canvasses and gardens in the A TIONAL various observatories he inspired. M. K. Vainu was exposed to telescopes at the Nizamiah Observatory as a child. The S wonders of the night sky fascinated him from early childhood. In college he CIENCE built a spectrograph, for which he exposed the ‘sensitive plate’ for six nights in Vainu Bappu a row from his bedroom window and published his first scientific paper in 1946. (1927 – 1982) A CADEMY In 1948 after finishing MSc he wanted to pursue a career in astronomy but there were few opportunities in India. As luck would have it, Sir Harold Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal, UK and Professor Harlow Shapley of INSA Harvard University were visiting India. Vainu met them in Hyderabad. Shapley Vainu Bappu was singularly responsible for weaving the warp and weft of had read about Vainu’s work as an amateur astronomer. With Shapley’s efforts modern astronomy research in India. His untiring efforts created the necessary PLA Vainu went to Harvard University in 1949 on a Government of Hyderabad scholarship. At Harvard, Vainu found himself in the company of very capable infrastructure for future astronomical research in India. TINUM JUBILEE and inspiring people. Within a few months of coming to Harvard, Vainu Vainu Bappu was born on August 10, 1927. His family hailed from Cannanore discovered a comet.
    [Show full text]