Himalayan Chandra Telescope

Himalayan Chandra Telescope Latest News

25 years of the successful operations of the Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) atop Hanle in Ladakh was recently celebrated with a conference highlighting its history, engineering challenges, scientific research, and the road ahead.

About Himalayan Chandra Telescope

• It is a 2 meter optical-infrared telescope named after Nobel laureate Subramaniam Chandrasekhar.
• It is located 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 cloudless skies and low atmospheric water vapour make it one of the best sites in the world for optical, infrared, sub-millimetre, and millimetre wavelengths. 
• The telescope saw its ‘First Light’ on 26 September 2000, and was dedicated to the nation in August 2001. 
• The telescope is remotely operated using a dedicated satellite communication link from the Centre for Research & Education in Science & Technology (CREST), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Hosakote, about 35 km northeast of Bangalore.  
• Currently, the HCT hosts HFOSC (a spectrograph and camera in the optical), uTIRSPEC (a near-infrared spectrometer and imager), and HESP (a high-resolution Echelle spectrograph). 
• HCT is used by astronomers from across India, to study objects as varied as planets and asteroids, to stars and galaxies. 
• Some research highlights have been spectroscopy of comets, study of atmospheres of exo-planets, and participation in the discovery of the famous Trappist 1b exoplanet in the field of planetary science. 

News: PIB

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