Source: The HitavadaDate: 25 Jul 2017 11:28:03

Staff Reporter,

Raipur,

Professor K P Singh, eminent scientist and X-ray Astronomer from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai, explained that like visible radiation generally used for investigation of celestial bodies, X-ray also plays very important role in this work

Professor K P Singh, eminent scientist and X-ray Astronomer from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai and Professor Alok Chand Gupta from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (Nainital) shared their views with students and faculty members of School of Studies in Physics and Astrophysics, Pt Ravishankar Shukla University (PRSU), on Monday, during a one day seminar on Astronomy and Astrophysics. Professor Singh explained that like visible radiation generally used for investigation of celestial bodies, X-ray also plays very important role in this work.

However, X-ray coming from space cannot reach to the Earth, as it is blocked by Earths atmosphere. Hence we need to design a special kind of telescope and install it on a satellite above the atmosphere. Indian astronomers have designed X-telescopes on-board ASTROSAT, this satellite was launched in 2015 by ISRO and now successfully working, he said.

There are many other telescopes and detectors on ASTROSAT. This is Indias first multi-wavelength astronomical mission capable of simultaneous observations in many electromagnetic bands. Hence it has got attention from the astronomers worldwide, he added. He also said that celestial objects like White dwarfs, Neutron stars, and Black holes have very intense gravitational field, hence they accrete matter from the companion.

Falling material can not fall directly to the Black hole, hence it starts spiraling around it and form an accretion disk, this disk gets heated to very high temperatures, which releases huge amount of energy in X-ray band. Hence X-ray telescope are important to study compact objects like White dwarfs, Neutron stars and Black holes, which are otherwise invisible or difficult to see in other electromagnetic radiation.

Professor Gupta from ARIES explained how an active galactic nucleus (AGN) is formed by accretion process on to a super massive black hole. He also discussed in detail about Blazar which is a special class of AGN. Students also interacted with Professor S.K. Pandey, Vice Chancellor of the University and famous Astrophysicist. Other participants includes: Head of Physics Department Professor N Brahme, Faculty members and students from Center for Basic Sciences.

Pt Ravishankar Shukla University Vice Chancellor Professor S K Pandey, who is also an astrophysicist, HoD Dr Namita Brahme and Director Dr N K Chakradhari were present on the occasion.

Visit link:

Seminar on Astronomy, Astrophysics held - The Hitavada