AstrotalkUK

Not for profit podcast. Astronomy, Deep Space Exploration and International Collaboration

Episode 131: Space Weather and the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad in India

By Leave a Comment

Professor Pallamraju at cospar2025.org

We are increasingly aware of the impact of space weather on spacecraft in space and, occasionally, on electrical power transmission on Earth, but what about its impact on the Earth’s atmosphere? That is exactly the research interest of Professor Pallam Raju, Dean of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. Founded in 1947, the PRL is one of India’s most prestigious scientific institutions, not least because it was founded by Dr Vikram Sarabhai.

In this conversation, recorded in Nicosia during COSPAR2025.ORG the topics we discussed include

  • Professor Pallam Raju’s transition from theoretical physics to experimental aeronomy (science of the upper atmosphere) was inspired by childhood curiosity about the sky and optics.
  • Professor Raju’s innovative optical instruments to detect faint atmospheric airglow and aurora against the overpowering glare of the sun.
  • His extensive fieldwork includes research in Antarctica, Greenland, and Norway, as well as the use of high-altitude balloons for ultraviolet measurements.
  • The impact of space weather involves solar particles hitting Earth, potentially damaging satellite electronics and disrupting vital global communications.
  • He describes how India participates in the 24/7 Global Oscillations Monitoring Group. including solar observatories at Mount Abu and Udiapur that help provide early warnings for satellite operators.
  • He describes space missions like Aditya L1 and the dual-satellite Disha project, which will comprehensively monitor solar-terrestrial interactions from space.

Images and video from the partial Solar Eclipse 20 March 2015

By Leave a Comment

Some images and short videos of the eclipse recorded from northwest England during a mostly cloudy morning of 20th March 2015. I used a video camera piggy-backed on my driven Vixen 102mm telescope along with a Cannon 550D at the prime focus for a few stills.  A mylar filter was used most of the time on both the scope and video camera but occasionally removed because the attenuation provided by the clouds was sufficient. Although mostly cloudy throughout the eclipse there were several intervals when the sun was not completely obscured and is when these recordings were made.

The video was shot using a Panasonic HDC HS900 camera and the first 4 still images are from that camera too. Click on any image to open gallery view.

Partial Solar Eclipse 20 Mar 2015  – still images from video using Panasonic HDC HS900

 If you are intrigued by the birds in the images above. Here are the video clips from which they came at one tenth normal speed.

Partial Solar Eclipse 20 March 2015 – Vixen 102mm and a Cannon 550D at prime focus.

 

This 3 minute video is a collection of intervals when cloud cover did not completely obscure the sun during the couple of hours of the solar eclipse. It has been speeded up twenty times normal speed.