Astrosat's Soft X-ray Telescope sees first light

(Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) The Soft X-ray focusing Telescope (SXT) onboard Astrosat, India's first satellite dedicated to astronomical observations, saw its first light from an astronomical source in a distant galaxy, on Oct. 26. The SXT is India's first X-ray telescope based on doubly reflecting grazing incidence optics, containing 320 mirrors assembled together in 2 sets of 40 co-axial shells. The mirrors and the precision structure for assembling them were built at the Tata Inst...