2004 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS - Indian Academy of Sciences

RECOMMENDATIONS
Keeping in mind these various aspects,
the committee recommends that a
Working Group be formed (consisting of
both engineers at ISRO and interested
astronomers) to do a feasibility study for
a Near Infrared Spectrometer. The
committee feels that this should be seen
as a follow up to the ASTROSAT and,
therefore, such a study should
commence rather soon.
7. Upgrading the existing facilities
The committee has been quite conservative in
recommending new facilities. This is because
in its view the highest priority now is to grow
the next generation of astronomers. While new
facilities are certainly needed, it is equally
important to take immediate steps to ensure
that our major telescopes remain competitive.
And some of the older ones can be upgraded
quite profitably.
• The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
The GMRT is our largest observational facility,
and truly world class. If proper steps are taken,
it is likely to remain the major international
facility in the 200–1000 MHz range. But to
remain competitive, particularly in the crucial
1000–1400 MHz range, as well as to greatly
enhance the capability of the telescope, the
committee strongly endorses the following
upgrades suggested by the Radio Astronomy
Panel:
• Making the GMRT system broadband,
with an instantaneous bandwidth of
~ 250 MHz.
• Lowering the system temperature of
the high frequency receivers.
• Improving the capacity to reject manmade
interference.
• Exploring the possibility of adding a
few more short and long baselines to
the telescope.
• Expansion of GRAPES III
As already remarked, the study of cosmic rays
of energy above 10 20 eV now occupies the
central stage. Whether particles of such high
energy reach the earth, and if so how, is one of
the outstanding questions in astrophysics. With a
view to clarify this question, many new
experimental facilities are under planning or
construction.
The only operating facility in India for studying
ultra high energy cosmic rays is GRAPES at
Ooty. Although this is a modest effort in
comparison to some of the new international
facilities coming up, it is still powerful enough
to produce significant results. The time is ripe
for an upgrade of this experiment. Fortunately,
this can be done at a modest cost because
there has been significant R&D work at TIFR in
the development of high quality plastic
scintillators and fast electronics; consequently,
very few components would have to be
imported.
The committee endorses the suggestion
of the panel that GRAPES III should be
expanded, and an additional ~ 2000
square meter area of muon detector
installed.
The committee is also of the view that the
fruitful R&D work should be continued
vigorously, since that will provide the
opportunity to participate in future
international collaborative experiments.
• The 1 m telescope at Nainital
An interesting project suggested by the panel
on Optical astronomy is a limited sky survey in
polarized light. A 1 m class telescope with an
imaging polarimeter will suffice for this
scientifically rewarding project.
116