Context: To mark the 20 years of the HCT, Indian Astronomical Observatory, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, has organized a two-day online science workshop.

About Himalayan Chandra Telescope

• It is a 2-meter optical-infrared telescope named after India-born Nobel laureate Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar.
• It was installed at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Mt. Saraswati, Digpa-ratsa Ri, Hanle, Ladakh at an altitude of 4500 m by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, in August 2000.
• Its primary goal is to study electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources, young supernovae and near-earth asteroids.
• It is the India’s first robotic telescope and the first one designed to observe dynamic or transient events in the universe.
• It contains a modified Ritchey-Chretien system with a primary mirror made of ULE ceramic which is designed to withstand low temperatures it experiences.
• The telescope is mounted with 3 science instruments called: Himalaya Faint Object Spectrograph (HFOSC), Near-IR imager and Optical CCD imager.
• The telescope is remotely operated via an INSAT-3B satellite link which allows operation even in sub-zero temperatures in winter.

Additional fact

The Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at Hanle in Ladakh provides for the combined facility of:

• The Himalayan Chandra Telescope,
• The gamma-ray array telescope (HAGAR),
• Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH)-India, and
• The imaging Cherenkov telescope (MACE).

Research Area

• Study of solar system bodies like; comets, asteroids etc. and young stellar objects.
• Study of open and globular clusters and variable stars in them, abundance analysis of elements in the atmosphere of evolved stars.