GRAPES-3 to detect solar storms
2017 what is new ?
23
GRAPES-3 to detect solar storms
The GRAPES-3 experiment at TIFR ’ s ( Tata Institute of Fundamental Research ) Cosmic Ray Laboratory in Ootacamund in Tamil Nadu is getting upgraded to detect solar storms . GRAPES-3 ( Gamma Ray Astronomy PeV EnergieS phase- 3 ) experiment had detected the effect of a solar storm that hit the earth in June 2015 . GRAPES-3 has an important role in understanding the propagation of storms from the L1 point ( Lagrange point 1 ) to its impact on the Earth . The upgraded detector will have an increased coverage and improved capacity to determine the direction of incident cosmic rays . It will play a major role in getting precise information about the propagation of storms in the last million miles ( from the L-1 point ) of their journey from the Sun to the earth . Background The Sun is at a distance of 150 million kilometres from the earth . Satellites are placed at a distance of nearly 1.5 million kilometres , at the so-called L1 point ( between Earth and Sun ), where they orbit the Sun along with the Earth . The satellites act as an early warning system as the charged particles from a solar storm first impact the satellites before hitting the earth . The GRAPES-3 experiment is located at Ooty in India . It was started as a collaboration of the TIFR and the Japanese Osaka City University , and now also includes the Japanese Nagoya Women ’ s University . It is specially designed to study cosmic rays with an array of air shower detectors and a large area muon detector . It aims to probe acceleration of cosmic rays in the four astrophysical settings .
Astronomers discover Venus-like planet orbiting a dim star Kepler-1649
Astronomers using NASA ’ s Kepler space telescope have discovered a Venus-like planet orbiting a dim star called Kepler-1649 . The newly found planet is one-fifth the diameter of our Sun and is only slightly larger than Earth . It is located 219 light years away from Earth . The Venus-like planet tightly embraces its low-temperature star Kepler-1649 by encircling it every nine days . The tight orbit around the star causes the flux of sunlight reaching it to be 2.3 times as great as the solar flux on Earth . For comparison , the solar flux on Venus is 1.9 times the terrestrial value ( on earth ). The discovery will provide insight into the nature of planets encircling around M dwarf stars , by far the most common type in the universe .
Venus is the second planet from the Sun , orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days . It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty . It is a terrestrial planet and is sometimes called Earth ’ s “ sister planet ” because of their similar size , mass , proximity to Sun , and bulk composition . It has no natural satellite . But it is radically different from Earth in other respects . It has densest atmosphere of four terrestrial planets , consisting of more than 96 % CO2 . The atmospheric pressure at its planet ’ s surface is 92 times that of Earth . Note : Venus is by far the hottest planet in the Solar System , with a mean surface temperature 462 ° C even though Mercury is closer to the Sun . Kepler Space Telescope ( KST ) is an unmanned space observatory launched in 2009 by National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ). It is tasked with determining how commonly , Earth-like planets occur throughout the Milky Way galaxy . KST works by observing a dimming in the light of a star , known as a transit , each time an orbiting planet passes in front of it . It has been designed for a statistical mission and not to probe into the environmental conditions of planets that exist in the so-called Goldilocks zone ( Habitable zone ) of their stars .