Bengaluru: India’s AstroSat space telescope, launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2015, has detected more than 600 Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) over the span of eight years. Each GRB signals the demise of a massive star or the merging of neutron stars.
GRBs, often referred to as “mini big-bangs,” are the most energetic explosions in the universe, emitting more energy in seconds than the sun produces in its entire lifetime. According to Gaurav Waratkar, a Ph.D. student at IIT Bombay who leads the study of GRBs with AstroSat, these bursts last from a fraction of a second to several minutes and are accompanied by the birth of a black hole.
The 600th GRB detection by AstroSat’s Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) detector occurred on November 22, exceeding the satellite’s designed lifetime of five years. Dipankar Bhattacharya, the principal investigator for CZTI, expressed satisfaction with the continued undiminished performance of the instrument.
AstroSat, India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, equipped with payloads for observing celestial objects across different wavelengths from ultraviolet to X-rays, has exceeded expectations by maintaining good health and providing valuable data for astronomers.
“We are proud of what AstroSat has accomplished. To build upon this success, multiple institutes have proposed Daksha, a next-generation GRB space telescope that will surpass any such satellite worldwide,” said Varun Bhalerao, associate professor at IIT-Bombay.
Daksha aims to be more sensitive and capable, potentially detecting in just over a year what CZTI achieved in eight years. The success of AstroSat has spurred collaborative efforts to further explore extreme conditions associated with high-energy events.
Astronomers worldwide were notified of the 600th GRB detection, allowing them to incorporate the data into their research. Since then, three more GRB events have been detected by CZTI, demonstrating the ongoing contribution of AstroSat to scientific understanding.
“It is amazing to look at the data and have the opportunity to be the first one to view these explosions that happened billions of years ago,” remarked Gaurav Waratkar.