Table of Contents
WHAT HAPPENED RECENTLY?
The 0.7 m GROWTH-India telescope at the Indian Astronomical Observatory located in Hanle, Ladakh, has made its first science observation which is a follow-up study of a nova explosion.
GROWTH-INDIA TELESCOPE
NOTES
- The facility at Hanle is part of a multi-country collaborative initiative – known as the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH) – to observe transient events in the universe.
- Universities and research institutes from the US, the UK, Japan, India, Germany, Taiwan and Israel are part of the initiative. Their primary research objective is time-domain astronomy, which entails the study of explosive transients and variable sources (of light and other radiation) in the universe.
NOTES
- The Rs-3.5-crore telescope is a joint project of the Bengaluru-based IIAp(Indian Institute of Astrophysics) and IIT Bombay.
- The project is fully funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board of the Department of Science and Technology, under the PIRE project, administered by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum.
- The 70-cm robotic telescope joins other larger facilities of IAO’s in Hanle: the Himalayan Chandra Telescope, the High-Altitude Gamma-Ray (HAGAR) telescope and the Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) telescope.
THREEFOLD GOALS
The GROWTH-India telescope is part of the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen. Its goals are threefold: Search for explosions in the optical regime whenever LIGO group detects a Binary Neutron Star merger Study nearby young supernova explosions Study nearby asteroids.
DETAILS OF THE NOVA
Novae are explosive events involving violent eruptions on the surface of white dwarf stars, leading to temporary increase in brightness of the star. Unlike a supernova, the star does not go on to die but returns to its earlier state after the explosion. This recurrent nova, named M31N-2008, has been observed to erupt several times, the most recent eruption happening in November 2018. Transient phenomena such as supernovae are important parts of time-domain astronomy which is a less-explored frontier in astronomy. Such an explosion is when the inner material of the star is thrown out. There is no other way we can actually see what is inside a star.
WILL OUR SUN BECOME A SUPERNOVA?
The Sun does not have nearly enough mass to become a supernova. Instead, it will swell to become a red giant, enveloping Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth. After that, it will shed its outer layers as a planetary nebula, and settle down to become a white dwarf.
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