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IAF to assist scientists tracking solar eclipse

NEW DELHI: The Air Force will assist scientists in their quest to study the July 22 solar eclipse by flying a jet fighter and a transport aircraft, with the latter carrying a team of researchers.

Agreeing to a request of Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organisation under the Department of Science and Technology, the IAF agreed to be part of the scientific experiment.

It will fly a Mirage 2000 from Gwalior airbase to shoot photographs to record the event that would be visible in parts of India from the Gulf of Cambay in the West to Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast.

IAF spokesman Tarun Kumar Singha said here that a transport aircraft AN-32 would take off from either Bagdogra or Patna and fly north to enable a team of four scientists and a media squad to record the event. He said the IAF would carry a mission on July 21 in setting sun to simulate the conditions and fine tune the plan, including height and other details.

The total eclipse is set to last some four minutes while the eclipse would be of a longer duration. While flying, the ramp door of the transport aircraft would be slid to enable scientists and the accompanying media to carry out their tasks.

Others associated with the project include the Udaipur based Solar Observatory and Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. Simultaneously, the fighter aircraft would fly with the pilot tasked to click pictures of the celestial event, employing a digital single lens reflector and high end zoom. The corridor of the eclipse passes closest to Gwalior, the spokesman said.

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