Khodad beckons astronomers as GMRT facilities look sky-high
Indian Express: Eighty kilometres from Pune city in Khodad village in Junnar taluka, the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT), one of the world’s few low radio frequency telescopes used in studying the universe, is getting an upgrade.
The facility, which attracts talent from across the world and India, has been the research base for leading astronomers over the years. The upgrade would make GMRT more attractive for astronomers to come to Khodad to pursue cutting edge research. “It will ensure that we are able to take GMRT to deeper, fainter and more exotic reaches of the universe by using the latest modern technology,” said Yashwant Gupta, chief scientist, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), which is the academic centre for the GMRT.
In scientific parlance, the GMRT will be able to function almost continuously from 30 mhz to 1,500 mhz in frequency, increase bandwidth coverage up to 400 mhz (from 32 mhz), incorporate more sensitive receivers, have a revamped servo system and a modern control and monitor system. The upgrade may also give the GMRT a few years of lead time over competing telescopes. In Holland, the WSRT works in low frequency as well, but it is much smaller than the GMRT. Holland is also coming up with another low frequency telescope called the Lofar.
Several countries are pooling in their resources to build the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) which will work in a continuous range of very low to very high frequencies.
The SKA, which will come up either in South Africa or Australia, is still in the concept stage.
“Our wideband feeds, part of the upgrade plans for the front end receivers of the telescopes, will function between 130 mhz and 280 mhz, 200 mhz and 400 mhz, 550 mhz and 900 mhz. We are also working on development of a feed for 30 mhz to 80 mhz, in collaboration with the Raman Research Institute at Bangalore,” said Anil Raut, engineer, GMRT.
Essentially, the upgrade would ensure that GMRT will have a keener eye and a sharper ear on the universe.
For instance, when scientists look into a supernova remnant, they will be able to pick up weaker signals.
Instead of one narrow beam looking into one part of a supernova, they would have the benefit of multiple narrow beams with the same intensity, more crucially — at the same time.
“We would be able to look deeper into a particular direction and improve our observation data,” said Jayanta Roy, research associate, GMRT.
The flip side, however, is the phenomenal amount of data that multiple beams would end up generating, requiring powerful computational ability and massive storage capacity. But that is a future challenge for engineers.
The current upgrade will also aim to enhance GMRT’s ability to study transient phenomenon in the sky.
For the GMRT, this would be the first significant upgrade since it began operations in 2001. The present upgrade, sanctioned under the 11th five year plan, will cost around Rs 25 crore.
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