India develops Low Cost “Indigenous Spectrograph”

What is the news?

Indian scientists indigenously designed and developed a low-cost optical spectrograph named “Aries-Devasthal Faint Object Spectrograph & Camera (ADFOSC)”.

Note: Spectrograph is an instrument that obtains and records an astronomical spectrum. It separates incoming light by its wavelength or frequency. It records the resulting spectrum in multichannel detectors like a photographic plate for analysis.

About the Aries Devasthal Spectrograph(ADFOSC):

• Developed by: It has been indigenously designed and developed by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences(ARIES). ARIES is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology(DST).
• Purpose: The spectrograph can locate sources of faint light from:
  • Distant galaxies in a very young universe
  • Regions around supermassive black-holes around the galaxies
  • Cosmic explosions like supernovae, young and massive stars and faint dwarf galaxies.
• Location: The spectrograph has been successfully commissioned on the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope(DOT). It is located near Nainital Uttarakhand.

Significance of this Spectrograph:

• Made in India: It is a Made in India spectrograph. Such spectroscopes were so far imported from abroad at high costs.
• Cheaper than imported ones: It is about 2.5 times less costly compared to the imported ones. Moreover, it can locate sources of light with a photon-rate as low as about 1 photon per second.
• Largest Spectrograph in India: It is the largest of its kind among the existing astronomical spectrographs in the country.

3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope

• Setup by: It was set up in 2016 by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES).
• Purpose: It has been set up for the study of celestial objects at optical wavelengths.
  • Celestial objects are any natural body outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Examples are the Moon, Sun, the other planets of our solar system among others.
• Location: It is located at the Devasthal Observatory site near Nainital, Uttarakhand.
• Collaboration: The telescope is built in collaboration with the Belgian firm Advanced Mechanical and Optical System (AMOS).
• Significance: It is currently the largest reflecting telescope in Asia.

Source: PIB