27-Nov-2020: GMRT accorded the prestigious IEEE Milestone status
The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has been selected as a ‘Milestone’ facility by the U.S.-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
The previous two Indian IEEE Milestones were for the pioneering work done by Sir J.C. Bose to demonstrate the generation and reception of radio waves in 1895 (recognised in 2012), and for the Nobel Prize-winning (in 1930) ‘scattering of light’ phenomenon observed by Sir C.V. Raman in 1928.
About GMRT: National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of TIFR has set up the GMRT as a unique facility for radio astronomical research at metre wavelengths. Late Prof. Govind Swarup, widely regarded as father radio astronomy in India, played an instrumental role in establishing the GMRT facility. The GMRT was conceptualised in the late 1980s, built and made operational during the 1990s, and was opened for use by the global astronomy community in 2002.
The GMRT is one of the most challenging experimental programmes in basic sciences undertaken by Indian scientists and engineers. It is one of the largest and most sensitive low frequency radio observatories in the world. The GMRT consists of 30 fully steerable gigantic parabolic dishes of 45 m diameter each spread over distances of up to 25 km with sophisticated electronics and computing for processing the data from all the antennas. The construction at a relatively small cost has been possible due to an important technological breakthrough achieved by Indian Scientists and Engineers in the design of light-weight, low-cost dishes. The design is based on SMART - Stretched Mesh Attached to Rope Trusses – concept. The GMRT was also one of the first radio antenna arrays to use optical fibre for transporting the signals from the antennas to the central processing location.
About IEEE and the IEEE Milestone: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), headquartered in New Jersey, United States, is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology in all areas related to electrical and electronics engineering. The IEEE Milestones program honours significant technical achievements and excellence for the benefit of humanity found in unique products, services, seminal papers and patents, which have global or regional impact, in all areas associated with IEEE.
7-Jan-2017: Astronomers discover powerful cosmic double whammy.
By combining data from several telescopes around the world including India’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune, astronomers have discovered a cosmic double whammy unlike any ever seen before.
By combining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune and other telescopes, researchers found what happens when matter ejected by a giant black hole is swept up in the merger of two enormous galaxy clusters. The two phenomenon have combined to create a stupendous cosmic particle accelerator. This cosmic double whammy is found in a pair of colliding galaxy clusters called Abell 3411 and Abell 3412 located about two billion light years from Earth.
Scientists determined that as the shock waves travel across the cluster for hundreds of millions of years, the doubly accelerated particles produce giant swirls of radio emission. This discovery solves a long-standing mystery in galaxy cluster research about the origin of beautiful swirls of radio emission stretching for millions of light years, detected in Abell 3411 and Abell 3412 with the GMRT. This result shows that a remarkable combination of powerful events generate these particle acceleration factories, which are the largest and most powerful in the Universe.