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Ram Sagar, Brijesh Kumar & Annapurni Subramaniam

Scientific potential of the Indo-Belgian 3.6-m DOT in the field of Galactic Astronomy

(Volume 88 - Année 2019 — Actes de colloques — 2nd Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy & Astrophysics (BINA) workshop - October 2018 - Brussels, Belgium)
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Mots-clés : astrophysique galactique observatoire de Devasthal, optique, proche infrarouge

Abstract

India and Belgium have jointly established two 4-meter class optical telescopes at Devasthal located in Nainital, India. After successful installation of the 3.6-m modern new technology Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) in 2015, it was technically activated by premiers of both countries from Brussels on March 30, 2016. Since then, the 3.6-m DOT has been used for both optical and near-Infrared (NIR) observations for a number of research proposals. The best angular resolution achieved is 0″.4 indicating that the optics of the 3.6-m DOT is good and capable of providing images of celestial bodies with sub-arc-second resolution. The observations provide proof that the care taken in the construction of the telescope dome building has paid a rich dividend as their thermal mass is so low that it has not degraded the natural atmospheric seeing at Devasthal measured about two decades ago during 1997 to 1999 using differential image motion monitor. A few preliminary scientific results obtained from recent observations are presented along with performance and global potential of the 3.6-m DOT in the field of galactic astronomy. The 3.6-m DOT is capable of providing internationally competitive science once high resolution spectrograph and other planned modern back-end instruments become operational. Geographical location of the observatory has global importance for time domain and multi-wavelength astrophysical studies.

Keywords : galactic astrophysics, Devasthal observatory, optical, near-infrared

To cite this article

Ram Sagar, Brijesh Kumar & Annapurni Subramaniam, «Scientific potential of the Indo-Belgian 3.6-m DOT in the field of Galactic Astronomy», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 88 - Année 2019, Actes de colloques, 2nd Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy & Astrophysics (BINA) workshop - October 2018 - Brussels, Belgium, 70-81 URL : https://popups.ulg.ac.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=8676.

About: Ram Sagar

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, 560034, India and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263002, India,  ramsagar@iiap.res.in

About: Brijesh Kumar

Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, 263002, India

About: Annapurni Subramaniam

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, 560034, India