ISRO satellite detected 500 black hole formations in 6 years.

In May 2022, Pune-based Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) announced that AstroSat, India’s first dedicated multiwavelength space telescope, had detected 500 black hole formations in over six years of its operation. The count increased to 506 as of June 2, 2022.

The instrument behind the discovery is the Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI), one of the five gadgets on board of the telescope operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Down To Earth spoke with Dipankar Bhattacharya, the principal investigator of CZTI and faculty member at Ashoka University as well as IUCAA, to understand the science behind the detection and the future of the mission.

ISRO satellite detected 500 black hole formations in 6 years. Mission scientist tells us how they did it

 

Keep me the hell away from that black hole!