What is

            The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are a natural light display that occurs in the Polar Regions, primarily in the Arctic and Antarctic. They are caused by the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and charged particles from the sun, which are funnelled towards the poles. When these particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere, such as oxygen and nitrogen, they release energy in the form of light. This creates the beautiful, colourful displays in the night sky, often seen in green, pink, purple, and red hues.

    The Northern Lights are most commonly visible in areas close to the magnetic pole, like northern Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, and Russia. They're a stunning natural phenomenon! Have you ever seen them, or do you want to catch a glimpse someday?

    The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) happen when solar wind, which is a stream of charged particles released from the sun, reaches the Earth. These particles are made up of electrons and protons. When they collide with the gases in the Earth's atmosphere, such as oxygen and nitrogen, they excite these gas molecules, causing them to release photons of light. The colour of the light depends on the type of gas and its altitude:

• Green: This is the most common colour and is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 to 150 miles above the Earth’s surface.
• Red: This colour appears at higher altitudes, typically above 150 miles, and is caused by oxygen molecules as well, but at much higher altitudes.
• Purple, blue, and pink: These are produced by nitrogen molecules, usually at lower altitudes.

The display typically happens in an oval-shaped region around the magnetic poles, known as the aurora oval. The phenomenon is stronger during solar maximum years when the sun is at the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, and solar activity is heightened.

The best places to witness the Northern Lights are in regions close to the magnetic poles, especially in winter when the nights are longest. Some of the best countries to catch the Northern Lights include:

• Norway (Tromsø, Lofoten Islands)
• Sweden (Abisko National Park)
• Finland (Rovaniemi)
• Iceland
• Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories)
• Alaska (Fairbanks)

The auroras don’t happen every night, and their intensity can vary. Solar activity, the weather, and light pollution all play a role in how visible the lights are.

Objective:

1.  Astronomy.

2.  Solar physics.

3.  Astrophysics.

4.  Atmospheric science.

Location:

Manora Peak (elevation 1,951 m or 6,401 ft), about 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) from Nainital, capital of Kumaon District, India.

Nainital is situated at a high height in the focal Himalayas and away from urban communities or other significant contamination sources. This makes it reasonable for doing perceptions on foundation conditions and for concentrating on the local climate, especially connections among regular and anthropogenic follow species and environmental change. Moreover, the ARIES site can likewise give data on lengthy reach transport of pollutants. Concentrates on lower air elements are additionally vital around here, which is seriously missing over northern India

Facilities:

1.      3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope

2.       1.3m Devasthal Optical Telescope

3.      104 cm Sampurnanand Telescope

4.      Solar Telescope

5.      4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)

6.      Baker-Nunn Schmidt Telescope (BNST)

7.      Stratosphere Troposphere Radar

         The 3.6m Devasthal  Optical Telescope is a clear-aperture Ritchey- Chretien built by  ARIES. The 3.6m DOT is currently the largest reflecting telescope in Asia. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel remotely activate the Aries telescope from Brussels on 30 March 2016.

Aditya L1 Mission is a spacecraft design by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and other institutes of India to study solar atmosphere.

Objectives of the Mission:-

1.     Study of coronal heating and magneto-metry and solar wind acceleration,  

2.     Origin and monitoring of near-UV solar radiation.

3.     The continuous observation of photosphere, chromosphere and corona, solar energetic particles and magnetic field of the Sun.

Launching Date:- 26 august 2023.

Mission cost:- ₹378.53 crore.

    Mission by Indian space research organization( ISRO) it is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan 2. It consists of a Lander and a Rover. The Chandrayaan 3 is scheduled to launch by lvm3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-III) from Sriharikota on July 13 but can be delayed each day up to July 14^th.

 The Chandrayan 3 will have a Lander a Rover and a propulsion model. The robo is accommodated inside the Lander there will be certain improvements. The Rover of the upcoming Mission will have in it a heat flow experiment device and spectrometers.

 The new Mission has three major objectives these include:-

1.    Safe landing on the moon's surface roving on the moon.

2.     To put the Lander and Rover near the South Pole of the Moon by August 2023.

3.     To achieve some scientific measurements on the surface of the Moon

       Chandrayan's Lander will be equipped with five payloads. These are Chandra's surface thermo-physical experiment instrument for lunar seismic activity language probe laser retro reflector array Rover and radio anatomy of moon bounds hypersensitive ionosphere and atmosphere. The vertical velocity with which the Lander will touch down on the lunar surface should be less than 2 meters per second and the horizontal velocity should be less than 0.5 meters per second. The slope must be less than 120 degrees. The mission life of chandrayaan 3 is one lunar day which is equivalent to about 14 Earth days.

                 The sun is the center of our solar system and the source of life on Earth but it's also a mysterious and dangerous place. Its surface is so hot that nothing can survive there. Its atmosphere is so violent that it sends out streams of charged particles that can harm us and its secrets are so hidden that we can't see them from a far. But what if we could get closer what if we could touch the sun. We might think this is a crazy idea or a fantasy. But it's not reality. It is happening right now NASA's Parker solar probe is on an Epic Quest to touch the sun that's right touch the sun and it has just accomplished a stunning feat it has soared through the sun's upper atmosphere for the first time ever collecting particles and magnetic fields there.

                 Now we have some amazing news to share with you in a new study unveiling a new discovery made by the probe. Scientists have uncovered the origin and mechanism of the fast solar wind on the sun's surface. They have also verified that Parker solar probe has penetrated the sun's upper atmosphere for the first time touching the very essence of our star. This is a historic Milestone and a breakthrough for solar science. Parker solar probe and its mission is to touch the sun. Parker solar probe is not just a spacecraft it's a dream come true.

                   A dream started more than 60 years ago. When a physicist named Eugene Parker predicted the existence of the solar wind. He was the first to realize that the sun's Corona was so hot that it could escape the Sun's gravity and create a supersonic flow of plasma that filled the space around the Sun. Parker's theory was revolutionary but it was also controversial many scientists doubted him and challenged him But he was right and NASA decided to honor him by naming their most ambitious solar mission after him Parker solar probe.Parker solar probe was launched in 2018 with a bold goal to touch the sun to do that it had to fly closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before and it had to survive the extreme heat and radiation of the sun's atmosphere.

         But how did it do?  Well it had some clever tricks up its sleeve

·        First it had a powerful rocket that boosted it to incredible speeds at its fastest it can zoom around the Sun at about 430 000 miles per hour.

·         Second it had a thick shield made of carbon composite that protected it from the sun's heat The Shield can withstand temperatures reaching nearly 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, 1377 Celsius that's hotter than lava.

·        Third it had a smart cooling system that kept its instruments at a comfortable temperature the system used water to circulate heat around the spacecraft and radiated away.

·        Fourth it had autonomous software that controlled its orientation and attitude. The software made sure that the shield always faced the Sun and that none of the other parts of the spacecraft were exposed to direct sunlight.

Thanks to these tricks Parker solar probe could fly closer and closer to the Sun breaking records and making history along the way.

                    Parker solar probe it shows that the fast solar wind comes from regions of open magnetic field on the sun called coronal holes. These are areas where magnetic field lines stick out of the surface without looping back inward creating open channels that allow plasma to escape. Probe also found that these coronal holes are like shower heads with jets of plasma emerging from bright spots where magnetic field lines funnel

into and out of the surface. These funnels are huge about 18 000 miles across and have very strong magnetic fields. But how do these Jets produce the solar wind? Well Parker solar probe has an answer for that too. It detected bursts of high energy particles that match the pattern of these funnels suggesting that they are caused by a process called

Interchange reconnection. Interchange reconnection is when oppositely directed magnetic fields pass one another in these funnels and break and reconnect slinging particles out of the sun this process releases energy and creates pressure and flow bursts that drive the solar wind.

            Parker solar probe has entered the sun's upper atmosphere for the first time touching the very essence of our star. The solar wind carries not only particles but also magnetic fields that interact with Earth's magnetic field. This interaction can create beautiful auroras but it can also cause geomagnetic storms that can damage satellites, disrupt power grids and harm astronauts. The solar wind is not always steady and smooth. Sometimes it can be faster or slower denser or thinner hotter or colder depending on what's happening on the Sun. For example when there are explosions on the sun called solar flares or coronal. Mass ejections they can send huge bursts of solar wind towards Earth. These bursts can arrive in a matter of hours or days and cause severe space weather effects understanding how and where the solar wind originates. These events and prepare for them it will also help us protect our technology and infrastructure from potential damage.

    But there's more to it than that studying the sun also helps us learn about other stars in the universe. The sun is our closest star and our best laboratory to test our theories and models of stellar physics by touching the Sun. We can touch other stars as well and who knows what else we might discover along the way. The sun is full of surprises and secrets that we have yet to uncover. The Parker solar probe is opening new windows into our star and its mysteries. It is still has more orbits to complete each to bringing it closer and closer to its final destination about 3.8 million miles or 6 million kilometers from the sun's surface by 2025. That's when the Parker solar probe will truly touch the sun like never before.

 In the beginning our universe was very hot and dense as the universe cooled down the electrons interacted with the nuclei forming the first atoms. A few hundred million years later the first start and eventually galaxies appeared. But how did they form? This thing will help us understand a 10 billion dollar time machine which has been in development for over 20 years imagine that you are 65 million light years away from Earth somewhere in the Virgo cluster and you have a very powerful telescope. Which you can use to study the Earth taking a look through the telescope you would be able to see what dinosaurs look like on our planet of course we will face many obstacles along the way. But we are talking about an incredibly powerful telescope right the James Webb Space Telescope is exactly that it is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble telescope. The comparison of the sizes of their primary mirrors and yet James Webb's mirror is 113 kilograms 249 pounds lighter the telescope works in the infrared Spectrum the infrared radiation can penetrate the dust cloud and allow us to see the stars forming within additionally. Einstein's theory of relativity states that the space between objects in our universe expands and so does light as the light from the first stars and galaxies travels in our direction its waves lengthen and the light becomes infrared also known as red-shift.

                  Every time you look up at the night sky just know that there are many stars and galaxies the light of which stretched and became invisible or too faint for us. To see so here's a question how is the James Webb Space Telescope supposed to detect that light it will be assisted by a huge mirror which will increase the amount of collected light the more light the more detailed the image the mirror is made with 18 hexagonal segments each one 1.32 meters 4.3 feet in diameter. This shape will enable the crew to fold the mirror on Earth and unfold it in space then the focus of the mirror will be calibrated by Shifting the various segments with an accuracy of one to ten thousand one ten thousandth of the thickness of a human hair the light is collected onto the secondary mirror then it is reflected and sent to the scientific tools. After it is filtered it is then focused on the hypersensitive infrared detectors at which point the photons are converted into electrical voltage. The actual Tools telescope is equipped with four tools nercam is the telescope's primary imager in the near infrared range 10 sensitive detectors allow it to detect the light of the first stars and galaxies. In addition nercam is equipped with chronographs and what are they imagine that you're blocking the sun with your hand by blocking the bright light you can see the road ahead of you a coronagraph follows a similar principle Coronagraph. This function will allow our researchers to see more faintly lit starts galaxies and even take photos of exo-planet but near cam cannot show us everything. We need to know about the physical properties of the planet is there water, air impossible to say therefore another tool called near spec will be working with the same range by studying the spectrum of light emitted by an object. We can tell its mass temperature and chemical composition the atoms and molecules of an object leave their mark on the Spectrum in the form of black lines. But to analyze the Superpower faintest light the telescope has to stare at the object for over a hundred hours which is ages. But surely the scientists did not spend 10 years working in vain to avoid wasting the telescope resources on a single object the near spec is equipped with a superpower to provide spectroscopes of hundreds of objects at once which was achieved by developing a new technology called micro shutter system. This system is made of 250 000 shutters that open and close Micro shutter system if you ever observed the night sky in a town or city and compared it to what you can see at night in the countryside. You could probably tell the difference it happens due to the high volume of light in the city therefore the micro shutter system will block the irrelevant light allowing us to see the most faintly lit object. The light is then dispersed into the Spectrum and sent to the detectors how much light is there in outer space. A huge amount in order to capture only the relevant light the telescope has to be constantly directed at different targets. This will be possible with the help of the fine guidance sensor fgs.

               Additionally scientists from the Canadian space agency developed the near infrared imager and stilt the spectrograph which also takes pictures and captures spectroscopies in near infrared light Miri. But how do we deal with thick dust clouds that obstruct the view near infrared light might not be able to penetrate them and that's where the last tool comes in Miri. It is also equipped with a camera and a spectrograph but it works in a different range of infrared light one with longer waves which can penetrate the thick dust cloud its sensitive detectors will allow us to observe the red-shifted light of distant galaxies newly forming stars and comet. The issue with Miri is that unless this tool is cooled to 6.7 Kelvin or negative 266.5 Celsius it starts capturing its own heat so scientists developed an additional cooling system called cryo cooler in essence it's a sophisticated refrigerator in which helium will travel along pipes cooling Miri to the right temperature as a result Sun Shield. But now we have a different problem the Sun the Moon and Earth radiating heat and as a solution for this problem the engineers developed an incredible passive cooling system for the telescope the sun shield the size of this Shield is 21 meters long and 14 meters Across. The Shield is made up of five layers with space in between each layer of material so they can cool efficiently each layer is made from a special film that can withstand very high temperatures. This material is called captain in addition each layer is coated in aluminium and the first two have an additional coat of doped silicone in order to be able to withstand even higher temperatures for the sun shield. To be able to hide the telescope from the Sun the Moon and Earth simultaneously the JWST has to be 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth as a reference a Hubble Space Telescope was only 547 kilometers. The James Webb Space Telescope will travel to a special location known as laraji point 2. It is one of the five places in the solar system where gravitational forces allow the objects to remain in a fixed position relative to Earth. The next remember how we talked about a folding mirror similarly the sun shield and many other components will be foldable. This way the scientists can fold the telescope and pack it into the rocket Ariane 5 which is the most reliable rocket capable of delivering the telescope into space. Now let's talk about the most exciting thing the possibilities of the James Webb Space Telescope we already mentioned its ability to capture faint infrared light emitted by the first stars and galaxies.

               So what's next well for example you could spot the heat signature of a bumblebee at a distance of the Moon with the JWST but why should you care about a bumblebee did you know that Saturn is not the only planet with rings Uranus Neptune and Jupiter have them too it's just that in the visible spectrum their rings are dark and indistinct. Using the transit method in the infrared range the telescope will be able to help us understand how the rings around these four planets formed well. What about a detailed analysis of an exo-planet atmosphere the researchers are interested in the planet located in the habitable zone which means they might contain water. By using the telescope we can learn the chemical composition of those planets atmospheres scientists MACHIO KAKU thinks that the chances of encountering an alien civilization are quite strong. The telescope will be able to tell us more about the birth of galaxies stars and planets. It may completely change science as we know. It is the universe keeps many Secrets but the James Webb Space Telescope should help us uncover these Mysteries and in the meantime we will continue.

        A Geo-weapon is a hypothetical weapon that could be used to manipulate natural phenomena such as weather, climate, seismic activity, or the electromagnetic spectrum for military or geopolitical purposes. The concept of Geo-weapons is often associated with conspiracy theories, and there is no conclusive evidence that such weapons exist or have been developed by any government.

The idea of using natural phenomena as a weapon is not new. Cloud-seeding techniques to extend the monsoon season and flood enemy supply routes. However, the use of these techniques was limited in scope and effectiveness, and they were not considered to be Geo-weapons.

The development and deployment of Geo-weapons would pose significant ethical and legal questions. There are international agreements that prohibit the use of environmental modification techniques for hostile purposes, such as the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD). However, the effectiveness of these agreements in preventing the development and use of Geo-weapons is not clear.

Overall the concept of Geo-weapons remains largely speculative and controversial, and their potential impacts on the environment and human populations would need to be carefully considered before any such weapons could be deployed.