AAAS Team with Eminent Scientists

AAAS coverage in Press - TOI, Ahmedabad, Dtd.22 July

Society formed to create awareness about astronomy

TIMES NEWS NETWORK



The four founder members of Amateur Astronomers Association of Surat, which was launched on Tuesday

Surat: Fascinated by solar activities, a physics student from SVNIT, two engineers from Reliance Industries and Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) along with a management student formed a group – ‘Amateur Astronomers Association of Surat’ on Tuesday. SVNIT student Charitarth Vyas, a founder member of the association, described their effort as a first step towards creating awareness about astronomy in Surat. He said, “We have formed this group to create interest and awareness about universe and astronomy. We want to get likeminded people together and start activities like sun and moon gazing on specific occasions, studying stars. among others.” Busy at Atmiya Vidya Mandir in a two-day live workshop organized by state Astronomy Association, Nikunj Raval of Reliance, Jagdish Thadani of SMC and Fenil Patadia wish to see and study total solar eclipse if the weather God permits it.

Sometimes I feel that....

Sometimes I feel that, it would have been better & more enjoyable experience if I had chosen to go at any place other than Surat, to get the glimpse of TSE-2009. As It has been a very stressful experience being on the organizing side of the event at Surat. It requires so much of micro level planning and for person like me - who wants to do everything with perfection - its rather a very time consuming activity. Since last some days, I can't focus on my work at office and even can not give sufficient time to my better half Sarita & my sweet daughter Seema due to my involvement with this event, which has been successful to get participants registered from Vijaywada (A.P.), Chennai, Mumbai, Romania & Japan apart from Gujarat. What I have learned the most out of this whole exercise is that of "Event Management".

Let's hope that everything will be allright in the event after so much of hard work.

IOTA's Solar Eclipse Research

IOTA's Solar Eclipse Research
The International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA), leads a long term study in to measure possible solar radius variations. It is extremely difficult to measure the diameter of the Sun using conventional photographic techniques, even with the most sophisticated Earth based equipment. This is due to the Earth's atmosphere and its continuous turbulent motions, both near to the ground and in its upper layers. Constant motion of the air gives blurry images of the Sun even under the best atmospheric seeing.

So IOTA astronomer Dr. David Dunham devised a sensitive technique to measure accurately the diameter of the Sun during a solar eclipse. Along with colleagues Drs. Joan Dunham, Wayne Warren, Jr., Alan Fiala, David Herald of Australia, Paul Maley and Richard Nugent, and other IOTA members, observers are stationed near the umbral limits (shadow extremes) during a solar eclipse. By stationing the observers at the shadow limits, we only need to determine whether or not the observer actually has totality at that point. Being at the shadow limits and that the Moon's surface is full of craters, mountains and valleys, these observers will experience a long period of Baily's Beads, sunlight shining through the lunar mountains and valleys. If no complete totality is seen, (That is, Baily's Bead's are continuously visible) then the observer is outside the Moon's shadow. If totality is seen, then the observer is within the Moon's shadow. A line of observers can easily establish the geographical location of the edge of the Moon's shadow to within 100 meters. This uncertainty corresponds to an error in the Solar diameter of 0.05 arcseconds. Early results using this technique showed a precision of better than 0.1 arcsecond, and although this is quite an impressive figure, it was not enough to detect any changes in the Solar diameter. But comparison with a historical eclipse observed and timed by Sir Edmund Halley (of Halley's Comet fame), the resultant change in the Sun's size was computed to be -0.34 ± 0.2 arc second.
IOTA's method for determining the Solar Diameter.
As can be seen in the above diagram, prior to the eclipse, all quantities are known except for the Unknown solar diameter and the "Measure Umbra" distance on the Earth's surface. Following the eclipse, the size of the Moon's umbral shadow is known on Earth using the techniques described above, thus the Unknown solar diameter can be computed. There exists now a significant amount of solar eclipse data that has yet to be reduced, but the preliminary results indicate that much more work needs to be done in this field.
Results from the total eclipse on August 1, 2008 from Hami, China appear here:
http://weblore.com/richard/Aug_1_2008_Eclipse.htm

NEWS OF TSE-2009 AT SURAT IN TIMES OF INDIA

SOLAR ECLIPSE
Surat ideal to study shadow bands: Experts
Yagnesh Mehta TNN


Surat: These days the city is attracting people across the globe who are interested in studying this century’s first solar eclipse on July 22. Experts say the eclipse over the city will give them a chance to study the rare shadow bands, which otherwise will not be visible in any other part of the country. The eclipse will last for over three minutes and will display unbelievable artistic images, known as shadow bands, the experts explain. Hariom Vats, a senior scientist at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), says, “Surat will be the only place where one will get to see the shadow bands during the July 22 eclipse. There are many superstitions associated with the shadow bands as they lead to creation of many images on the earth.” The scientist says that Surat is an ideal location as the eclipse will be visible best from the city between Vapi to Vadodara and for the longest period. Vats visited Atmiya Vidya Mandir near Kamrej on Sunday morning as the school has been identified as a location for Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists to observe the eclipse. Along with the eclipse watch, various events for people have been organised at the location where the students will draw on-the-spot paintings of the rare event. Vats warned people to take required care while observing the eclipse. “Watching the eclipse without filter glasses can cause permanent injuries to the eyes. It can have adverse effect on the minds of pregnant women and sick people,” he informs.

LIVE WORKSHOP ON TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2009 AT SURAT