IIA celebrated 10 years of AstroSat’s UltraViolet Imaging Telescope

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics has celebrated a decade of successful operation of the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope, the flagship payload of AstroSat. A one-day workshop in Bengaluru highlighted UVIT’s scientific legacy, technical achievements and its role in shaping India’s future UV space missions.

AstroSat and the Milestone for UV Astronomy

AstroSat, launched in 2015, carries multiwavelength instruments spanning ultraviolet to hard X-ray bands. UVIT, activated in November 2015, stands out as India’s first UV space telescope. It remains one of the few global facilities capable of far-ultraviolet observation, aside from the Hubble Space Telescope. UV astronomy, dependent on space-based platforms due to atmospheric absorption, has benefited enormously from UVIT’s operational longevity.

Design, Development and Operational Capabilities

Designed by IIA at its Hosakote campus, UVIT comprises two co-aligned telescopes: one for near-UV and visible bands and another dedicated to far-UV. The mission was built through a national partnership involving IIA, IUCAA, TIFR, several ISRO centres and contributions from the Canadian Space Agency. A dedicated clean-room—the MGK Menon Laboratory—was created at IIA to assemble sensitive components, and a Payload Operation Centre was established for data handling and performance monitoring.

Scientific Discoveries and Global Impact

UVIT’s high spatial resolution, better than 1.5 arcseconds, and wide field of view have made it a powerful tool for studying stellar populations, galaxies and energetic cosmic events. The telescope has observed 1,451 celestial targets and contributed to nearly 300 research papers and 19 doctoral theses. Key results include the discovery of hot companion stars of Be stars, blue straggler stars, extended UV disks in dwarf galaxies, structures in planetary nebulae, novae in the Andromeda galaxy and UV emission from galaxies at redshift 1.42.

Exam Oriented Facts

• UVIT activated on 30 November 2015 as part of AstroSat.
• UVIT offers spatial resolution better than 1.5 arcseconds.
• Instrument has observed 1,451 celestial targets and supported ~300 papers.
• Mission developed by IIA with contributions from IUCAA, TIFR, ISRO and CSA.

Future Directions and the INSIST Programme

The workshop outlined plans for INSIST, India’s proposed next-generation UV spectroscopic and imaging space telescope. Building on more than two decades of expertise from the UVIT programme, the initiative aims to expand India’s capacity in high-precision ultraviolet astronomy. Updated, science-ready UVIT images continue to be archived on ISRO’s PRADAN platform for global researchers.