ISRO Reveals First Image from Outer Space by ASTROSAT – of Crab Nebula

India's first multi-wavelength space observatory, ASTROSAT, was launched into a 650 km orbit on Sept. 28, 2015, by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The satellite has started its work and has begun to capture images well. The first light image by ASTROSAT is already here – find out what it looks like.

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Recently, ISRO tweeted the first image from outer space captured by ASTROSAT.

It is a light image of Crab Nebula, which is the brightest hard X-ray source in the sky.

Hard x-rays are high energy x-rays and because of their penetrating ability, they are used to obtain images of the inside of objects like in medical radiography and airport security. Crab Nebula is the remnant of the supernova (a stellar explosion) that was recorded in the year 1054, and it is found in the constellation Taurus. It is often used to calibrate hard X-ray detectors.

ASTROSAT, an astronomy observatory, is a place from where India can study different cosmological phenomena. It is meant to observe distant celestial objects and gain a more detailed understanding of our universe. One of its missions is detecting new, briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky.

Thus, the satellite was oriented towards Crab Nebula on October 6. This was after one of the five payloads on board ASTORSAT was made operational. It is called the Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) and is meant for hard X-ray detection.

The CZTI is sensitive to X-rays above 10KeV energy.

All pictures: isro.gov.in

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