Science simplified: Students learn Aditya L1 solar mission concepts at IUCAA

The young astronomy enthusiasts, still celebrating the success of Chandrayaan-3, were thrilled to meet the scientists who are working closely on India’s first solar observatory mission Aditya L1.

On Tuesday, IUCAA scientists not only brought simple science concepts alive for them, but also explained their relevance in big astronomical projects.

Shruti Gondhane, a Class 9 student of Aaryans World School, said she wants to be an astronomer and has been closely following the Chandrayaan-3 mission and is hopeful for the Aditya-L1 launch.

Another student, Riya Kulkarni, said that concepts like surface tension, reflection and refraction of light were explained in a simple and practical manner. Not only did they get clarity about the concepts, but also understood their relevance in big projects like Aditya L-1.

Talking about such school visits, Bhushan Joshi, Scientific Officer, Instrumental lab, IUCAA, said, “Such activities will enhance the students’ quotient of what they want to be in the future. Many people think, only choosing science stream will lead ultimately to the making of a scientist, but that’s not true. While building such satellites, you need different streams of engineering also like electronic, mechanical, software.” Joshi said as a school student, he used to visit Muktangan, IUCAA’ science centre. “My interests were polished because of the activities going on in IUCAA and today I get to work here”.

The centre has mainly helped in developing the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT). Deepak Kathait, JRF fellow, explained, “Since we can’t look at the ultraviolet rays directly, the SUIT is supposed to look at those and calculate the spectra, so we can know how much radiation the sun is emitting and understand the process that goes on.”
“We are still over the moon thanks to Chandrayaan-3 and now this is supposed to be a second launch. So I hope everything goes well. It is India’s first solar mission and it is quite an upgrade over the previous instrumenats we had, very excited with the new data,” Kathait said.

Megha Anand, a post doctoral fellow at the IUCAA, said that outreach is essential. “Students might have known about Chandrayaan-3 but not about Aditya L-1 as the news is still being picked up.” She said that they tried to deliver factual, simplified and relevant information about the solar observatory mission. “It is important that people who are scientists, and also good science communicators, step in and break down difficult concepts for students and the public,” she said.

The IUCAA scientists who have been working on this mission for a long time said their work actually starts now as continuous monitoring and analysis of the data will be required after the launch. “I installed the camera on the payload with my own hands, it had to be installed part-by-part and everything is working well so far. We are hoping for the best but until we begin to get the first images, the anticipation will remain high,” Joshi said.

With inputs from Devanshi Srivastava