What is AstroSat?

About AstroSat:

• It is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical, and UV spectral bands simultaneously.
• It was launched by the Indian launch vehicle PSLV from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on September 28, 2015.
• The spacecraft control center at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, manages the satellite during its entire mission life. 
• The minimum useful life of the AstroSat mission is around 5 years.
• It carries a total of five scientific payloads enabling imaging and studying the temporal and spectral properties of galactic and extra- galactic cosmic sources in a wide range of wavelengths on a common platform.
• Objectives:
  • To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes.
  • Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars.
  • Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy.
  • Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky.
  • Perform a limited deep-field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region.

Q1: What are Black holes?

Black holes are formed after the supernova explosion when the core of a massive dying star more than 2.5 times the mass of the Sun collapses until an infinite density where gravity is so high that even light cannot escape. 

Source: ISRO’s AstroSat, NASA’s space observatories capture dramatic eruptions from stellar wreckage