About Astrosat

• ASTROSAT is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory. This scientific satellite mission endeavours for a more detailed understanding of our universe.
• ASTROSAT is designed to observe the universe in the Visible, Ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum simultaneously with the help of its five payloads.
• AstroSat with a lift-off mass of 1515 kg was launched on September 28, 2015 into a 650 km orbit inclined at an angle of 6 deg to the equator by PSLV-C30 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The minimum useful life of the AstroSat mission is expected to be 5 years.

Why in News?

• India’s first Multi-Wavelength Space Observatory “AstroSat” has detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy located 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth.
• The galaxy called AUDFs01 was discovered by a team from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune.
• This discovery is a very important clue to how the dark ages of the Universe ended and there was light in the Universe.

Reference:

1. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1650396