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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

India’s first satellite dedicated to astronomy, ASTROSAT, blasted off into space on 28 September from the space port of Sriharikota in the Bay of Bengal, equipped with five instruments to study astrophysical phenomena over a wide range of wavelengths simultaneously.

An Indian-built Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying the 1.5-tonne probe lifted off at 10:00 am India time and successfully placed it in a 650-kilometre orbit above Earth 22 minutes later, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed.

ASTROSAT, with a mission life of five years, is armed with telescopes that will simultaneously study the space in visible light, ultraviolet (UV) rays and low- and high-energy X-rays, plus an X-ray scanning sky monitor to detect transient X-ray emissions and γ-ray bursts. The observatory aims to study star-birth regions and high-energy processes, including binary star systems of neutron stars and black holes (see 'Indian ASTROSAT telescope set for global stardom' [nature.com]).

http://www.nature.com/news/india-launches-its-first-astronomy-satellite-1.18445 [nature.com]

[Also Covered By]: TIME [time.com], Spaceflight Now [spaceflightnow.com], Phys.org [phys.org], The Wire [thewire.in]

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