IIA researchers use commercial dish TV antennas to measure Sun’s magnetic field

A team of scientists and engineers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) radio astronomy group has used a novel technique to measure the Sun’s magnetic field using commercial dish TV antennas.

The technique involves measuring the magnetic field in the solar chromosphere, the region between the Sun’s photosphere and corona, using the commercial dish TV antennas. The team demonstrated the technique recently.

According to the team, the antennas operate at a frequency of 11.2 GHz, which is in the radio astronomy band of the electromagnetic spectrum.

They said that this novel and unique effort has paved the way for regular measurement of the Sun’s magnetic field from its surface to the outer layers of its atmosphere.

“Measurement of the magnetic field in the solar chromosphere is a key link to establish the connection between the Sun’s surface and its corona from where the space weather disturbances originate. We are glad to have established a comparatively low-cost facility in the institute’s Radio Astronomy Field Station in Gauribidanur for this purpose,” R. Ramesh, senior IIA professor and in charge of the Gauribidanur radio astronomy field station, told The Hindu.

Spurring other experiments

Prof. Ramesh said that the affordable set-up is expected to spur the educational institutions in the country to establish a similar facility on their campus, thereby paving the way for affordable astronomy that can provide valuable scientific quality data in addition to being a test bed to develop new technology within the country.

Students from BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru, and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetam, Bengaluru Campus, were involved in the set-up in Gauribidanur as part of their academic project work.

He said the set-up will cost ₹20 lakh. “This is a paltry sum compared to the budget required to establish a similar facility for measuring the Sun’s magnetic field via conventional optical astronomy techniques, either from ground or space platforms,” he added.