PRL Astronomy and Astrophysics
Ground Based Observational Facilities and
Instrumentation: Now and Next……
Science With Subaru : An Indian Perspective
TIFR Mumbai, 18 - 20 December 2019
Mudit K. Srivastava
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
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(With Inputs from Dr. Shashikiran Ganesh, PRL)
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Let’s Recall first……
PRL…www.prl.res.in
A&A is one of the seven academic divisions of PRL 3
PRL Astronomy and Astrophysics :Scientific Programs
Vishal JoshiMudit SrivastavaSachindra NaikSantosh Vadawale
Exo-Planets
Lokesh DewanganArvind RajpurohitAbhijit ChakrabortyManash Samal
Shashikiran GaneshVeeresh SinghSachindra Naik
Shashikiran Ganesh Abhijit ChakrabortyArvind Rajpurohit
Abhijit ChakrabortyShashikiran GaneshMudit SrivastavaSantosh Vadawale
Novae, SuperNovae, X-ray Binaries
Pulsars
Star formation, M-dwarfs
Active Galactic Nuclei
Instrumentation
in Optical/IR
& X-ray bands
Cometary Science
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Ground Based Observational Facilities :
Mt. Abu Infrared Observatory
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Latest: 43cm Telescope for
Transit Photometry
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Upcoming 2.5m Telescope
Latest: MFOSC-P
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Under Development
Instruments for 2.5m
Telescpoe
PRL 1.2m, f/13 Mt. Abu Optical / Infrared Telescope
✓Altitude ~1700meters, at Gurushikhar,
the highest peak in central and western
India
✓Cloud free nights ~ 70%
✓median seeing ~ 1 arc-sec
Banerjee and Ashok, 2012, BASI, 40, 243
Ashok and Banerjee, 2002, BASI, 30, 851
And the existing 1.2m…….
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1.) NICS : Near InfraRed Camera Spectrometer
Wavelength: 0.85-2.4 microns, 1K X 1K Hawaii Array
Spectroscopy: R ~ 1000, Filters: Y, J, H, K, Ks, Br γ, H2(2.12 µm)
Field of View : 8 x 8 arc-min square
Anandrao et al., 2008, Proc. SPIE 7014,70142Y
Instrumentation on PRL 1.2m Telescope
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Kinematics of Nova ejecta: Temporal Evolution of Pa Beta, 1.2818 micron (Srivastava et al. 2015, MNRAS, 454, 1297)
Studies of Dust Formation in Nova ejecta: NICS Photometry (Banerjee et al. 2016, MNRAS, 455,L109)
✓E.g. Studies of Novae ejecta etc. with NICS
Instruments on PRL Telescope : NICS …………..
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2.) PRL Optical Polarimeter
✓ Based on rapid modulation principle. Built at PRL in
1980s.
✓ With a rotating half wave plate and a fixed Wollaston
prism (Deshpande et al., BASI, 1985)
✓ Used at Nainital/Kavalur till 1994. At Abu since 1995 for
Blazars and Comets
Optical instrumentation on 1.2m Telescope…...
Chakraborty et al. 2014, PASP, 126, 133
3.) PARAS: PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search
R~67000, 3800-9500 Angstrom, Velocity Precision < 2m/s, Temp Control
0.01-0.02 deg RMS
Instruments on PRL Telescope : PARAS …………..
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✓Exo-planets search
and Studies of
Eclipsing Binaries with
Radial Velocity Method
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Chaturvedi et al. 2016, MNRAS, 462, 554
Chakraborty et al. 2018, AJ, 156, 3 (9)
Instruments on PRL Telescope : PARAS …………..
4.) Mount Abu Faint Object Spectrometer and Camera –
Pathfinder (MFOSC-P) (Development : July 2015 – January 2019)
✓Provides both Imaging and
Spectroscopy capabilities in
Optical regime on existing
1.2m Telescope
✓Envisaged as pathfinder for
a bigger and complex
instrument on upcoming 2.5
Telescope
✓Fully in-house Design and
Development• Optical Design
• Opto-mechanical Design
• Instrument Control System
• Control Software
(FEA of mechanical design was
done by SAC-ISRO)
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and the latest addition…..
MFOSC-P in the Laboratory
Integration and Characterization
MFOSC-P – in laboratory ..………... fully in-house Design and Development
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MFOSC-P: Current Status…..
MFOSC-P is being used on the PRL Telescope
since 5th Feb 2019
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B-Filter – 60 sec
V-Filter – 40 sec
R-Filter – 25sec
I-Filter – 15 sec
Hα-Filter – 100sec
Detection
V ~ 15.74 Mag
ΔV = 0.15 mag
SNR ~ 7.3
in 40 sec Integration
On-sky Characterization of MFOSC-P : Imaging……..
M21 Open Cluster
~ 5.2’ X 5.2’ FOV
(Full FOV of MFOSC-P)
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MFOSC-P Spectra of SU Lyn
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Observed using MFOSC-P on 18/04/2019.
ARAS archive data with N200mmF telescope on 20/04/2019.(http://www.astrosurf.com/aras/ArasDataBase/Symbiotics/SULyn.htm)
NASA-IRTF Telescope SpeX Instrument
(11/12/2017 : Spectral Resolution degraded)
On-sky Characterization of MFOSC-P : Spectroscopy……..
Upcoming 2.5m PRL Telescope at Gurushikhar, Mt.Abu
(expected by 2021)
…...and now the future
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the latest…….
50 cm ATVS Existing
1.2m
Upcoming
2.5m
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2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….
✓ A Wide Field Optical Camera : WFOC
✓A High Resolution Spectrograph : PARAS-2
✓ Near Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter : NISP
✓ A FOSC with Intermediate Resolution Spectro-
Polarimeter : MFOSC-EP
PI: Prof. Abhijit Chakraborty
PI: Prof. Abhijit Chakraborty
PI: Dr. Mudit Srivastava
PI: Dr. Shashikiran Ganesh
Upcoming Instruments for 2.5m PRL Telescope
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1.) PARAS -2 : First Light Instrument for PRL
2.5m Telescope
✓Dedicated Program for Exo-Planet Search
……..To target super-Earths and super-Neptunes (2 to 40
MEARTH) around G & K dwarfs, and to achieve long-term
stability of 50 cm/s on bright stars (up to 7th magnitude), sub 2
m/s (up to 10th magnitude), and sub 5 m/s (up to
12th magnitude)……………..
Chakraborty et al. 2018SPIE Proc 10702, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII; Austin, Texas, United States
2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….
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✓Fiber-fed High-resolution spectrograph
✓Resolution (R) = 100,000
✓ Vacuum (0.001 to 0.005 mbar) and Temperature Controlled Environment at 25 deg C ± 0.001 deg C.
✓Wavelength Range : 380nm to 690nm
✓Grism as a Cross Disperser, R4 Echelle at blaze angle of 76degrees
✓Pupil diameter of 200 mm.
✓RV precision of 50cm/s or better (< 50cm/s).
Chakraborty et al. 2018, SPIE Proc 10702, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII; Austin, Texas, United States
2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments……. PARAS-2 Specifications
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2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….
2.) NISP : Near Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter
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2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….NISP Specifications
NISP – Electronics DevelopmentsSIDECAR ASIC based detector interfacing: Room temperature SIDECAR kit tested (Bottom left)H2RG detector expected in January 2020: Characterization of ROIC with SIDECAR in progress
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2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….NISP
3.) A FOSC for upcoming 2.5m PRL Telescope
✓Short period “Flickering” Time Domain Observations
(Zamanov et al. 2017, arXiv:1702.08243v1)
also, we want to measure….
1 sec time variability
✓Spectral Variability ~ 20-30 km/sec
(Zamanov et al. 2005, PASP, 117, 268)25
2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….
✓….and Polarization in Spectral Lines
Polarization of H-α line profile wings due to Raman
scattering of Ly-Beta photons ➔ Probe of Symbiotcs
environment (Ikeda et al. 2004, ApJ, 604, 357)
Young-Min Lee et. al, MNRAS 487, 2166–2176
(2019)
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2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….
…...Echelle Polarimeter on 2m Class telescopes
http://1601-031.a.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/lips/ 27
…...Echelle Polarimeter on 2m Class telescopes
Resolution R ~ 9000,
5 pixels slit
Upgrade High Res ~
20000, 2.5 pixels slit
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• Fast Readout mode in
imaging/photometry
• Intermediate Resolution,
R ~ 10000-15000
• Provision for Spectro-
Polarimetry
Normal FOSC
modes for Imaging
and Low Resolution
Spectroscopy
The requirements are for the instrument with,
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Mount Abu Faint Object
Spectrometer and Camera –
Echelle Polarimeter (MFOSC-EP)
A Facility Instrument 29
2.5m Telescope: upcoming instruments…….
Thank You
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