AstroSat: a 5-in-1 observatory

AstroSat is India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory. It was launched into space by ISRO exactly 3 years ago, on 28 September 2015, on board the PSLV-C30. This unique observatory has five instruments on board, all of which can look at the same piece of sky simultaneously. These five telescopes give AstroSat the capability of observing in the ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray bands. Thus, the range of wavelengths that AstroSat can observe spans a factor of about 16000, from the lowest (200 nm in the Near UV) to the highest (0.012 nm or 100 keV in the gamma rays). These five instruments are the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), the Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC), the Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride Imager (CZTI) and the Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM). Over the last one year, we have brought you 12 images from AstroSat. These APOMs, or AstroSat Pictures of the Month, have mostly been from the UVIT, since it is best suited at producing images. The strength of the X-ray and gamma ray telescopes lies in their incredibly precise timing and their spectral capabilities, and we will be bringing you spectra and light curves of interesting objects from time to time too. This month's APOM is of AstroSat itself! The top two panels are pictures of the fully assembled AstroSat from two different angles. All five telescopes, along with many sensors can be seen. The golden colour is due to the layer wrapping the satellite that thermally insulates it in space. Compare these two photographs with the artists conception of Astrosat in the pabel below. Here, each of the five telescopes are labelled, along with the solar panels which were unfurled in space after launch. Can you identify each of the five telescopes in the two photographs in the top panel?