By / par John Hutchings (Astrosat Working Group member)
(Cassiopeia – Spring / printemps 2019)
Astrosat is now in its 4th year of operation. The orbit is stable and there are no power or datalink issues. One of the three LAXPC units is not operating, and sadly the UVIT NUV channel remains off in spite of numerous attempts to restart it. UVIT data processing and archiving are up to date, and incomplete datasets are being added. Currently cycle 6 proposals are being executed, along with newly instigated legacy proposals. There is a call for cycle 7 proposals out with a deadline of April 9. A new call for legacy proposals will follow later. Canadians are eligible for a 5% share of observing, and the information is available here. Joe Postma continues to be available for advice and assistance in proposal submission. CSA will continue to support Astrosat science with their grant program. We encourage you to make use of this excellent facility.
Many astrosat results were reported at the ASI meeting (Indian equivalent of CASCA) in February, and a 3 day conference at IIA was devoted to Astrosat research. See the image below for an example of UVIT’s image capabilities.
NGC 300 is a spiral galaxy that lies beyond the local group that contains the Milky Way and Andromeda. Its size in the sky is about that of the full moon, and is considered to be similar to the Milky Way. The UV image from UVIT (bottom image, from our observations with the Astrosat space telescope) reveals the many regions of young star-formation and nebulae within the spiral arms, whose details and ages tell the story of how this galaxy is evolving.
For comparison, the top image is in visible colours, from the ground, and includes the older, redder stars as well.