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Indian-origin NASA scientist to lead rocket mission for 2023 solar eclipse

News On Time Desk 06 October 2023

Washington: An Indian-origin scientist at NASA is leading a mission that aims to launch three rockets during the 2023 eclipse on October 14. He will lead the mission, called Atmospheric Disturbance around the Eclipse Path or APEP, the space agency said. Aroh Barjatya who will study how the sudden drop in sunlight affects our upper atmosphere.

People watching the solar eclipse on October 14 will experience the Sun's normal brightness reduced by 10 percent as the Moon eclipses the Sun and only a bright "ring of fire" of sunlight remains. About 50 miles above and below Further the air itself becomes electricity.

Scientists call this atmospheric layer ionosphere. This is where the UV component of sunlight can pull electrons away from atoms creating a sea of high-flying ions and electrons. The sun's constant energy keeps these mutually attracted particles apart all day long.

But as the sun sinks below the horizon, they recombine into neutral atoms for the night, and separate again at sunrise. During a solar eclipse, sunlight disappears and almost instantly reappears on a small portion of the landscape.

In an instant, the temperature and density of the ionosphere drops, then rises, causing waves in the ionosphere. If you think of the ionosphere as a pond, said Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, If we think of a surface on which there are some light waves then the eclipse is like a motorboat which suddenly drifts in the water.

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Indian-origin NASA scientist to lead rocket mission for 2023 solar eclipse

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