2004 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS - Indian Academy of Sciences

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Preface February, 2002, one full day was devoted to a discussion of the preliminary reports of the various Panels. The final version of the Panel Reports will be available at the website of the Astronomical Society of India. This report of the Academy Committee is divided into nine chapters. After an Executive Summary, there is a chapter which attempts to portray the current excitement in astronomy and astrophysics. This has been done with the hope that the readership of this document will include young college students, as well as non-astronomers. This is followed by six chapters which deal with the various branches of contemporary astronomy listed above. Each of these chapters is fairly comprehensive and contains a historical introduction, areas of current research, a summary of the existing facilities, a brief account of the significant achievements in the past and some recommendations specific to that area. The last chapter is a comprehensive set of recommendations. These include some prioritized recommendations concerning new observational facilities and technology initiatives. The Academy Committee hopes that the extensive discussions that preceded the drafting of this report will mark a new beginning in Indian astronomy. It hopes that in the coming decades there will be active participation of young astronomers in planning for the future, and that the entire astronomical community will be involved in evolving new programmes, prioritizing them and defining the thrust areas. Finally, it is hoped that young students will find this useful as a resource book, for this will give them an overview of the world scene, as well as what is happening in India. Acknowledgements: When the President of the Academy requested me to produce a document which surveyed the astronomical scene in India, and which included a considered set of recommendations, I set up several panels to do the preliminary work. I am indebted to the members of the panels for undertaking this task despite their scepticism. While writing a historical account about cosmic ray research in India, as well as X-ray and gamma ray astronomy, I benefited a great deal from the information provided by S.C. Tonwar, S.K. Gupta and B.S. Acharya of TIFR, and R. Koul of BARC. I wish to place on record my gratitude to them. I also wish to thank B.T. Ravi Shankar and Atish Kamble of RRI for their patient help with downloading the beautiful images taken with the HST, CHANDRA and other observatories. To go from the Panel Reports to this document was a lot of work. P.S. Sreekumar at the ISRO Satellite Centre is the one “Panel Member” whose interest did not wane! I wish to express my sincere thanks to him for his constant encouragement, help and advice. Throughout this exercise (lasting nearly two years) Vidyamani at RRI has helped me in so many ways that I cannot even begin to list them here. Thank you, Vidya! Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to Shaji Bhaskar at IMAGIC CREATIVES for his infinite patience while designing this book; I wonder if any other client has been as demanding and fussy as me. G. Srinivasan Chair, Academy Committee President, Astronomical Society of India (viii)
The Academy Committee for Astronomy & Astrophysics G. Srinivasan, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore (Chair) S. M. Chitre, University of Mumbai, Mumbai R. Nityananda, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune S. N. Tandon, Inter University Centre for A & A, Pune The Astronomical Society of India Executive Council: 2001- 2003 G. Srinivasan, RRI, Bangalore (President) S. Ananthakrishnan, NCRA, Pune (Vice-President) G. M. Ballabh, Osmania University, Hyderabad Harish C. Bhatt, IIA, Bangalore Chanda J. Jog, IISc., Bangalore Swarna Kanti Ghosh, TIFR, Mumbai Ashok K. Pati, IIA, Bangalore Piyush Pandey, Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai Ram Sagar, ARIES, Nainital P. Vivekananda Rao, Osmania University, Hyderabad (ix)
Page 1 and 2: ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS A Decadal
Page 3 and 4: This publication of the Academy on
Page 5: Preface The Indian Academy of Scien
Page 9 and 10: h e P a n e l s Theoretical Astroph
Page 11 and 12: C H A P T E R 1 Executive Summary
Page 13 and 14: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The recommendatio
Page 15 and 16: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY feasibility study
Page 17 and 18: C H A P T E R 2 The Present Revolut
Page 19 and 20: THE PRESENT REVOLUTION IN ASTRONOMY
Page 37 and 38: A large eruptive prominence in HeII
Page 39 and 40: SOLAR PHYSICS • Detailed study of
Page 41 and 42: SOLAR PHYSICS Nainital Observatory
Page 43 and 44: SOLAR PHYSICS Some Possible New Ini
Page 45 and 46: SOLAR PHYSICS Telescope and the Hel
Page 47 and 48: C H A P T E R 4 Optical, Infrared &
Page 49 and 50: OPTICAL, INFRARED & ULTRAVIOLET AST
Page 57 and 58:
OPTICAL, INFRARED & ULTRAVIOLET AST
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
One of the 30 antennas of the GMRT
Page 71 and 72:
RADIO ASTRONOMY India’s location
Page 73 and 74:
RADIO ASTRONOMY The first telescope
Page 75 and 76:
RADIO ASTRONOMY Central Electronic
Page 77 and 78:
RADIO ASTRONOMY • Resolution of t
Page 79 and 80:
RADIO ASTRONOMY Some recommendation
Page 81 and 82:
C H A P T E R 6 High Energy Astrono
Page 83 and 84:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY 100 cm 2 area
Page 85 and 86:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY Areas of Rese
Page 87 and 88:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY remnant — E
Page 89 and 90:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY detectors, an
Page 91 and 92:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY Gamma Ray Ast
Page 93 and 94:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY A gamma ray b
Page 95 and 96:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY Cosmic Rays T
Page 97 and 98:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY from Hyderaba
Page 99 and 100:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY • Solar con
Page 101 and 102:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY nuclear compo
Page 103 and 104:
HIGH ENERGY ASTRONOMY New initiativ
Page 105 and 106:
C H A P T E R Theoretical Astrophys
Page 107 and 108:
THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS • The di
Page 109 and 110:
THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS There has
Page 111 and 112:
THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS 5. Equatio
Page 113 and 114:
C H A P T E R Gravitation and Parti
Page 115 and 116:
GRAVITATION AND PARTICLE ASTROPHYSI
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
C H A P T E R Recommendations 9
Page 123 and 124:
RECOMMENDATIONS different aspects s
Page 125 and 126:
RECOMMENDATIONS was installed there
Page 127 and 128:
RECOMMENDATIONS Keeping in mind the
Page 129 and 130:
RECOMMENDATIONS The 1 m telescope a
Page 131 and 132:
RECOMMENDATIONS as the technology t
Page 133 and 134:
RECOMMENDATIONS The committee appre
Page 135 and 136:
RECOMMENDATIONS • All Sky Monitor
Page 137 and 138:
RECOMMENDATIONS using our facilitie
Page 139 and 140:
RECOMMENDATIONS • The committee s
Page 141 and 142:
List of addresses Radio Observatori
Page 143 and 144:
S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic
Page 145:
Indian Academy of Sciences C. V. Ra
show all

2004 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS - Indian Academy of Sciences

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?