UPSC Prelims Bits: October 12, 2022

”UPSC Prelims Bits” is every day published in the morning between 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and contains selective current affairs articles. ”UPSC Prelims Bits” covers various topics from UPSC Prelims Syllabus and is very helpful and time managing for UPSC Aspirants. The framing of this daily current affairs compilation article is easy to read and understandable also.

In the ”UPSC Prelims Bits” article, we focus on UPSC Preliminary exam-oriented current affairs covering various sections from leading National Newspapers, PIB, and other various official sources.

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission 

Why in news?

NASA announces DART mission test successful.

Key Points

• DART is a spacecraft designed to impact an asteroid as a test of the technology. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth.
• Scientists have now confirmed the orbit of a 160m-wide (520ft) space rock known as Dimorphos was altered when the Dart probe struck it head-on last month.
• Researchers came to the conclusion after making measurements using a range of space and Earth-based telescopes.
• The mission was conceived to test a potential strategy to defend the Earth against threatening objects.
• Dart’s achievement proves such an idea would work, provided it was initiated early enough and the target wasn’t overly massive.

Economics Nobel 2022

Why in news?

• Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and two other U.S economists, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig, won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Why were they awarded the Nobel?

• They have been awarded for the work over the course of four decades on the role that bank bailouts play in financial crises. This research dates back to the early 1980s.
• Together, the work for which Bernanke, Dybvig and Diamond have been recognised has laid the foundation for modern bank regulations.

Indian Astronomical Observatory

Why in news?

• Recently, in a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Department of Science & Technology (DST) has announced the setting up of India’s first Dark Sky Reserve in Hanle, Ladakh.

Know About Indian Astronomical Observatory

• Indian astronomers in India, led by R. Rajamohan, discovered an asteroid that was later named 4130 Ramanujan. It was the first time in 104 years that asteroids were discovered from India.
• Their instrument, the 45-cm Schmidt telescope, was housed on the Javadi hills in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu and the spot is today called as Vainu Bappu Observatory.
• It is today run by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, and is among India’s foremost observatories.
• It was chosen in the 1960s because it was at impressive 750 metres above sea level, located amid a forest and offered fairly unobstructed vistas of the night sky.
• Kavalur’s geography put it in the path of both monsoonal clouds, during June-September and the returning, or northeast monsoon in November, forcing the observatory to often shut down for months.
• Also, rainclouds absorb starlight and radiation from cosmic objects, preventing them from being caught on the telescopes of cameras. Hence, the search began in the early 1980s for a place least affected by the monsoon.

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