India has a great tradition in astronomy and mathematics. In modern India, ISRO became the face of Indian Space research but ISRO concentrated on space projects which are directly useful for the people.
Recent projects like Chandrayyan, Mangalyaan, Astrosat show the changing face of Indian space research.
ISRO is the one of the rare science organization in India which get extraordinary media and public attention. ISRO achieved major developments in its technologies like heavy-lift vehicles, New Satellites, etc.
On June 08th, 2018 ISRO announced a major discovery of an exoplanet. The presence of the new exoplanet was observed at Mount Abu Infra-Red Observatory in Rajasthan. With indigenously developed technology PRL Advance Radial-velocity Abu-Sky Search (PARAS). The discovery was made by the team lead by Abhijit Chakraborty of Ahmadabad Physical research laboratory.
About the Planet
The exoplanet discovered is 600 light-years away from earth. The planet is orbiting the star named EPIC 211945201 or K2-236, so the planet is named EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b. The planet is in sub-Saturn or super-Neptune size.
The planet completes its one orbit around the star EPIC 211945201 in 19.5 earth days. The observed planet is 27 percent massive than the earth, the breakthrough observation was made through PARAS.
It is expecting that 60 to 70 percent of the total mass contain elements like silicates, ice, and iron. The surface temperature of the planet is nearly 6000C because it is 7 times closer to its star than earth to the sun.
What are Mount Abu Infra-Red Observatory (MIRO) and PRL Advance Radial-velocity Abu-Sky Search (PARAS)?
Mount Abu Infra-Red Observatory is the first ground-based infrared observatory for celestial objects. MIRO was founded in 1990 by the Physical research laboratory, Ahmadabad.
MIRO is a 1.2 m infrared telescope and the observatory is located at an altitude of 1680 meters above mean sea level. Mt Abu was selected for this observatory because of the low water vapor content in the atmosphere and reasonably good observable conditions at night.
PRL Advance Radial-velocity Abu-Sky Search (PARAS) is an indigenously developed equipment attached to the 1.2m infrared telescope at MIRO. This spectrograph working at a resolution of 67,000.
PARAS is detecting the planet by the method of radial velocity search. The radial velocity of an object is the velocity of that object along a straight line with respect to the observer. PRAS has achieved a Radial velocity accuracy of 1.3 m/s.
Importance of the Discovery
This discovery shows the changing face of Indian space research. We all know that ISRO is the face of Indian space research programs, their motto is ‘Space technology in the Service of humankind’. From the beginning, ISRO was focused on the space mission that is directly linked with the common man’s life.
MIRO is funded by the ministry of space same and its planning starts in the late ’70s. The discovery of this planet made India one of the few countries which discovered an exoplanet.
This discovery gives a great leap to Indian observational astronomy and it will give a new direction to Indian space programs.
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