Page 45 - CTB-1 10 May

PIONEERING A NEW FUTURE 45
PUBLIC OUTREACH
The institute’s faculty scientists and outreach team visits schools/ colleges often to give science lectures. Programmes for school teachers where they are also introduced to the basic principles of optics and astronomy are also run. Public is educated about astronomy through tours of the facility, access to astronomy library, night-time telescopic sky viewing, and presentation of specialized university- level courses, seminars, and workshops. The museum in the Kodaikanal campus is a well-visited
ultraviolet and visible large area detectors, and vacuum facilities. UVIT is one of the principal instruments onboard the ASTROSAT mission, whose primary aim is to carry out studies in the wavelength range 130-300 nm. Each of the images will cover about a half-degree circle and have an angular resolution better than two arc-sec. UVIT on ASTROSAT was launched on 28 September 2015 from Sriharikota.
Aditya-L1 is India's first dedicated scientific mission to study the Sun. The Aditya-L1 mission was conceived as a 400kg class satellite carrying one payload, and the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) is planned to be launched and positioned in the L1 Lagrange point.
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Project: This Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will be one of
the world's most advanced ground-based optical and infrared observatories. IIA houses India- TMT Centre to monitor the committed in-kind contributions, which include Segment Support Assembly (SSA), Actuators, Edge Sensors, polished mirror segments, Observatory Software (OSW) and Telescope Control Systems (TCS), Segment Coating, and science instruments. The construction of the Optics Fabrication Facility at
IIA, CREST, Hoskote, has been completed and would be commissioned shortly.
Central Library: IIA library is one of the oldest astronomy libraries in the world. It has archival material that is 200 years old.
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES
The research group on Solar Physics carries out the study of the Sun, its photosphere, chromosphere, corona, sunspots and activity cycles, magnetic fields, wave propagation
in magnetic networks, magnetic flux tubes, polarization of spectral lines, energy transport mechanisms in the solar wind and atmosphere, helioseismology, and space weather.
A large number of researchers pursue stellar, galactic and extragalactic astrophysics. IIA also houses laboratories for astronomical instrumentation and a high-performance computing facility. A vigorous graduate programme leads to a PhD degree, summer programmes, and an internship programme.
The institute also has been running a unique MTech-PhD programme, in collaboration with the Department of Applied Optics and Photonics, Calcutta University, for more than a decade. •
place.
2.34m
VainuBappu ARCHIVES Telescope Dome
IIA–Archives
has a unique collection of archival material, some of which is more than 200 years old. The institute has also inherited the library and records of the Madras and Kodaikanal observatories dating back to 1786 enriching its collection.