Comet P12/Pons-Brooks

About Comet P12/Pons-Brooks

• It is a celestial object that has been playfully nicknamed the ‘Devil Comet’ or likened to the ‘Millennium Falcon’ for its distinctive appearance.
• This comet, first discovered in the year 1812, completes an orbit around the Sun every 71 years. Its recent activity has been particularly striking, with multiple outbursts of gas and dust that have dramatically increased its brightness.
• The comet’s atmosphere, visible as a spherical halo, spans an impressive 3,50,000 kilometers in diameter, 

Key facts about Himalayan Chandra Telescope

• It is a 2 meter optical-infrared telescope named after Nobel laureate Subramaniam Chandrasekhar.
• It is at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) in Hanle near Leh in Ladakh.
• It is currently the tenth highest optical telescope in the world, situated at an elevation of 4,500 meters.
• The telescope remotely operated using a dedicated satellite communication link from the Centre for Research & Education in Science & Technology (CREST), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore.
• Imaging instruments include a Faint Object Spectrograph, a near infra-red and an optical CCD camera.

Q1) What is Infrared radiation?

It is that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that extends from the long wavelength, or red, end of the visible-light range to the microwave range. Invisible to the eye, it can be detected as a sensation of warmth on the skin. The infrared range is usually divided into three regions: near infrared ,middle infrared and far infrared.

Source: Comet spanning 3,50,000 km in size captured by India’s Himalayan Chandra Telescope