K. S. Sarma
Articles written in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
Volume 38 Issue 2 June 2017 Article ID 0029 Review Article
Soft X-ray Focusing Telescope Aboard AstroSat: Design, Characteristics and Performance
K. P. Singh G. C. Stewart N. J. Westergaard S. Bhattacharayya S. Chandra V. R. Chitnis G. C. Dewangan A. T. Kothare I. M. Mirza K. Mukerjee V. Navalkar H. Shah A. F. Abbey A. P. Beardmore S. Kotak N. Kamble S. Vishwakarama D. P. Pathare V. M. Risbud J. P. Koyande T. Stevenson C. Bicknell T. Crawford G. Hansford G. Peters J. Sykes P. Agarwal M. Sebastian A. Rajarajan G. Nagesh S. Narendra M. Ramesh R. Rai K. H. Navalgund K. S. Sarma R. Pandiyan K. Subbarao T. Gupta N. Thakkar A. K. Singh A. Bajpai
The Soft X-ray focusing Telescope (SXT), India’s first X-ray telescope based on the principle of grazing incidence, was launched aboard the AstroSat and made operational on October 26, 2015. X-rays in the energy band of 0.3–8.0 keV are focussed on to a cooled charge coupled device thus providing medium resolution X-ray spectroscopy of cosmic X-ray sources of various types. It is the most sensitive X-ray instrument aboard the AstroSat. In its first year of operation, SXT has been used to observe objects ranging from active stars, compact binaries, supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei and clusters of galaxies in order to study its performance and quantify its characteriztics. Here, we present an overview of its design, mechanical hardware, electronics, data modes, observational constraints, pipeline processing and its in-orbit performance based on preliminary results from its characterization during the performance verification phase.
Volume 38 Issue 2 June 2017 Article ID 0030 Review Article
P. C. Agrawal J. S. Yadav H. M. Antia Dhiraj Dedhia P. Shah Jai Verdhan Chauhan R. K. Manchanda V. R. Chitnis V. M. Gujar Tilak Katoch V. N. Kurhade P. Madhwani T. K. Manojkumar V. A. Nikam A. S. Pandya J. V. Parmar D. M. Pawar Jayashree Roy B. Paul Mayukh Pahari Ranjeev Misra M. H. Ravichandran K. Anilkumar C. C. Joseph K. H. Navalgund R. Pandiyan K. S. Sarma K. Subbarao
Large area X-ray propositional counter (LAXPC) instrument on AstroSat is aimed at providing high time resolution X-ray observations in 3–80 keV energy band with moderate energy resolution. To achieve large collecting area, a cluster of three co-aligned identical LAXPC detectors, is used to realize an effective area in access of ∼6000cm2 at 15 keV. The large detection volume of the LAXPC detectors, filled with xenon gas at ∼2 atmosphere pressure, results in detection efficiency greater than 50%, above 30 keV. In this article, we present salient features of the LAXPC detectors, their testing and characterization in the laboratory prior to launch and calibration in the orbit. Some preliminary results on timing and spectral characteristics of a few X-ray binaries and other type of sources, are briefly discussed to demonstrate that the LAXPC instrument is performing as planned in the orbit.
Volume 38 Issue 2 June 2017 Article ID 0031 Review Article
The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager on AstroSat
V. Bhalerao D. Bhattacharya A. Vibhute P. Pawar A. R. Rao M. K. Hingar Rakesh Khanna A. P. K. Kutty J. P. Malkar M. H. Patil Y. K. Arora S. Sinha P. Priya Essy Samuel S. Sreekumar P. Vinod N. P. S. Mithun S. V. Vadawale N. Vagshette K. H. Navalgund K. S. Sarma R. Pandiyan S. Seetha K. Subbarao
The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) is a high energy, wide-field imaging instrument on AstroSat. CZTI’s namesake Cadmium Zinc Telluride detectors cover an energy range from 20 keV to >200 keV, with 11% energy resolution at 60 keV. The coded aperture mask attains an angular resolution of 17′ over a 4.6∘× 4.6∘ (FWHM) field-of-view. CZTI functions as an open detector above 100 keV, continuously sensitive to GRBs and other transients in about 30% of the sky. The pixellated detectors are sensitive to polarization above ∼100 keV, with exciting possibilities for polarization studies of transients and bright persistent sources. In this paper, we provide details of the complete CZTI instrument, detectors, coded aperture mask, mechanical and electronic configuration, as well as data and products.
Volume 44, 2023
All articles
Continuous Article Publishing mode
Since January 2016, the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy has moved to Continuous Article Publishing (CAP) mode. This means that each accepted article is being published immediately online with DOI and article citation ID with starting page number 1. Articles are also visible in Web of Science immediately. All these have helped shorten the publication time and have improved the visibility of the articles.
Click here for Editorial Note on CAP Mode
© 2023-2024 Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru.