THE HIGGS-BOSON-PODCAST `

Hey there!, I know it has been a long time since I last wrote, actually to be honest the habit just broke. I know that perhaps some of you might be waiting eagerly for my post and here I am back!, but only for this post. I have decided to stop blogging for three years and complete my school first and then there will be loads of posts all being mysterious as always.

This post is to brief you about "THE HIGGS BOSON",  a particle whose discovery changed our perspective of the universe for ever! I have participated in a contest SPACE Astro Podcast Contest 2016. 

In this I had to take any topic related to astronomy and explain it through the means of a podcast. So I took one of the most mysterious discoveries of all time- 'The Higgs Boson'. 

The judgement is on the basis of 

• Maximum Number of Likes
• Most Creative Video
• Most Innovative Topic                                     

This is the link of the PODCAST VIDEO please go and check it out and do hit the like button. 

I request you to help me out in this as I really need your support ! 

Thanks a Tonne!

By:-

Aviral Srivastava

fend me Instagram: astro_avi

Mars in 3 days?

Welcome back! , thanks for tuning in with the the TMC.

In my last post I talked about how Photonic Propulsion could revolutionize the way we
sail through space.  Today I am going to explain more on this topic , perhaps I am a little late but to be honest it took me time to fully understand this topic. 

Okay, so landing on Mars within 3 days of leaving  may seem like a fantasy but with Photonic Propulsion it's as easy as reading this post!xD , I have already explained what is photonic propulsion. Now I am gonna explain about how this mechanism works and accelerates spaceships through the spacesea.  But let me explain the word  "spacesea" , spacesea is nothing but the curvature of the space-time , it appears a sea and is most relevant with photonic propulsion because it is based on the use of space-sail.

Okay , now you would be wondering what makes this mechanism so fuel and cost efficient and still gives the speed we couldn't even think of ! , well it's simple engineering , innovation and obviously the "human brain", the thing which drives all these things inside it.
This mechanism harnesses the momentum of photons to accelerate the spaceships( only those with a spacesail) to velocity of very high magnitude( nearly 1/4th the speed of light), the photons will be emitted through a highly powerful and concentrated laser which would be powered by the sun.

And then our journey to Mars in 3 days will begin and not even mars but with this speed we could reach the edge* of the solar system within a few weeks , the same distance was covered by our fastest spacecraft Voyager-1 in around 33 years of it's launch. 

This topic is so vast that that but my friend I have to end this here, if you have any questions ask them in the comment section below!

Thank you for spending your valuable time and don't forget to subscribe to my blog!

By purpose I have not added any picture in this post. 

written By:-
Aviral Srivastava
Find me on Instagram : avirals_22
email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Photonic Propulsion

Hey there! Thanks for tuning with TMC.

It's has been long since I last posted! anyways I am back again with this mind blowing post!
So here's a brief description: ever thought of reaching 1/4 the speed of light? NO, right??! well it might be possible in the near future!

It may sound like a Science Fiction, right? but wait! , don't you think everything we see around us was once a Sci-Fi? The computers , the Internet all those gadgets and the most important of all - ELECTRICITY, which is like the boss of everything.Okay , let's get back to the point.

So, what is PHOTONIC PROPULSION ?  The term sounds like a  photon driven launching system i.e. a mechanism in which the momentum of photons would be used to drive spaceships and rovers through the sea of space  (I will come back to this later) . You might think what the hell am I saying , that's what is , the principle behind such a propulsion system is to reduce the time taken to travel through space and to make the space programs more money efficient. Currently it costs about $10,000 to transport 1kg of anything to LEO( Low Earth Orbit). And around 95% of this cost is of just fuel! , so if we could find a way to eliminate chemical propulsion which requires fuel we could cut down the costs of space missions by a huge amount.

Artists conception of a laser thruster.

For such a propulsion system we need to build a laser that  could is so powerful that it can accelerate a spacecraft attached to a space sail. The laser should be 10 km wide on each side! and it would require a highly productive solar cell that could trigger the light beam. The space-sail too has its own terms and conditions! it says that it will exist only if it is around 1 micron(1/10000 of a millimetre!!) also it should be strong enough to withstand the fast and furious motion of the spacecraft.

Diagram depicting the working of a laser thruster.

So for now that's it, I will get back to this topic again because needs so much discussion! till then tell me what do you think about such a revolutionising idea that could change the way we used to sail through the universe!!

Written By: Aviral Srivastava
Find me on Instagram : avirals_22
email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Mercury Transit

Hey!, welcome back and thanks for tuning in with the TMC.
Perhaps I am a little late for this post hope you don't mind it!

So here's the picture of the Transit!
Mercury is the spot near the top.

Mercury Transit!

If you have any queries regarding the Transit check out my previous post,
'Mercury Transit'.

By:-
Aviral Srivastava
Find me on Instagram: avirals_22
Email me at: aviralstivastava12@gmail.com

Mercury Transit

Finally the wait is over!! you don't have to be patient anymore. Yes! you read it right , only a few hours to go for which, perhaps , the entire population is waiting. And this eagerness is for the most awaited event of this month i.e. Mercury Transit , the  pass of the planet Mercury from over the sun.This post will give you a brief description about the transit and will guide you so that you can safely observe it without causing harm to your precious eyes. 

So what's is Mercury Transit? , let us for a while leave the word Mercury and focus on Transit.Transit in Astronomy means pass by of an celestial from over another celestial body i.e. when one body appears to move across the other one, these observations are seen by someone that lie on either side of the two bodies. For a transit to occur the three bodies should be in a perfect alignment such that they lie in the same plane. 

The above definition may seem like a bit confusing, right? No problem I will explain it in some simple words. Imagine three collinear points on a line, since they are collinear it means they are perfectly aligned to lie on one single line. Replace these points with celestial bodies and the definition becomes simple. Perhaps you would now think why these three bodies need to be in a line , lets us reposition one the three points , now can one straight line pass through these three? No,right? This is the answer to the question!

So , now we can say pass by of Mercury from over the Sun is called Mercury Transit, we can imagine this as a Solar Eclipse where the cause is Mercury instead of the Moon.
                

Places where the Transit is visible.

  Since, there is no other way except through telescopes and binoculars, you need to be very cautious while observing the transit because one little mistake and you will lose your eyes forever! Follow the steps below:-

- Choose a good quality solar filter and check for any scratches on it, it should be perfectly smooth.

- If you don't have a telescope or a binocular then I advise you not to look at the transit through naked eyes , it won't cause blindness but still it can damage your eyes. Look For a live streaming ,you can check  this link , NASA is also going to provide a live telecast at NASA TV. 

Mercury will begin its transit at 7:12 am EST on May 9 and take about 7.5 hours to fully cross the face of the sun. The Following  animation from NASA shows Mercury's projected path: 

By

Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram as: avirals_22

Email me at: aviralsrivastava12gmail.com

Are We Doomed?

Welcome back guys, Thanks for tuning in with TMC.

Life on Earth has always gone through extreme circumstances and in the process more than thrice the number of species that are present today have wiped out, leaving only those who could thrive in those extreme circumstances, and that's what we call evolution.

This is the basic principle in the cycle of creation i.e. a new thing comes into existence only if the previous ones are doomed or in the verge of extinction. We often say that many species of flora and fauna are endangered etc, but, have we ever thought of ourselves in the list? Well the answer is YES, we have and we have found the entire life on Earth can wipe out any second.

An animation depicting the struck
 of the rock some 4.5 mya.

Asteroids  meteorites are always a threat to us, they are found in abundance and their length varies from a few kilometers to 100 km.  The space rock that is thought to have wiped the dinosaurs was just 16 km long! Just imagine if a asteroid having a diameter of around 50km hits the Earth what might happen? Perhaps everything might be destroyed, even water! and the blue planet would appear like a ball of fire ( if there would be anyone to see it! xD).

This doesn't end here, the Sun also seems to be a threat, it has completed half its life cycle and it will become a red giant and its radius would expand near the Earth's orbit, but still we have a lot of time nearly around 5 billion years!

So that's for today! 

Written by:-
Aviral Srivastava 
Find me on Instagram : avirals_22
email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gamil.com

Q&A #2

Hi audience! thanks for tuning with TMC

This post will let you ask your queries and I will try my best to help you guys. Just publish your question as a comment on this post and I will reply to you with an answer as soon as possible.

I had launched a similar round sometime ago but I was unhappy because I didn't get any response , I hope you guys will help me establish an Astronomical Society. 

I am creating a feedback page on this blog and you can give suggestions on where to improve in my posts. Your suggestions would mean a lot to me. I am going to start the work on the page and it will be ready soon.

And  I want to thank you all my AUDIENCE for spending your precious time in reading my posts.

And if you haven't  subscribed to TMC then click on the and follow the blog for more posts fun!

BY:-

Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram: avirals_22

Email me at: aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

The King of the Rings

Welcome back folks! Thanks for tuning in with TMC.

We all love dinosaurs and Saturn right?, but have we ever thought of comparing them with the Saturn system? Well, at first these two look like incomparable but then comes the age! Yes, their age , one seems to be younger than the other .

A recent study has shown that those rings , which earlier we thought had been formed at the birth of the Solar System, might had come into existence after the death of dinosaurs on Earth. Actually there is no relation between these two events, it is just that the study is using a point in time i.e. the time of wiping out of dinosaurs and relating it an event that might had occurred roughly at the same time.

Artist's conception of Saturn and its rings

The researchers at the Search for Extra-terrestrial  Intelligence Institute (SETI), claimed that the outer rings of the 6th planet might be as young as a 100 million years, this seems to be a large span of time for a layman, but it is nothing when compared to the age of the universe, that;s why it has been referred as young.

At first, this may not seem to be interesting , I myself didn't find it worth but then I understood what implications it could have on our study of our home - The Solar System. We might be able to understand the emergence of life in a better way by comparing the difference between the structure of those inner and outer rings, due to the difference in ages. It might help us understand the existence of these rings and may answer  a mysterious question i.e. " Can our Moon form such rings around our planet" and this doesn't end here , because a new finding makes way for a thousand new ones.

That's it for now, will meet you in my next post till then stay fit and don't forget to subscribe to The Mysterious Cosmos.

written by
Aviral Srivastava 
find me on Instagram : avirals_22
email me at: aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Dark Matter

Dark matter, doesn't the word relates to something mysterious out there?, Something which is revolving around our minds? Well actually it does!. The question that comes into the mind is "what do we mean by dark matter"?

Dark matter refers to the hypothetical invisible substance in the universe. The universe has fixed shape(as it can be curved by mass) , so where did this mass come from? We know that galaxies also have a fixed shape ,though it changes slightly, but the overall picture seems to be more or less similar because they are bound to that shape.

This shape, the curve due to mass, the "extra mass" all this points to something that is missing out there!! this is referred to as dark matter. Dark because  it is invisible to us and matter because it has mass and occupies the empty space in the universe and provides those galactic bodies a support structure.

The distribution of the content of the universe.
source : Google

Now the term dark energy arises, this may seem to be similar to dark matter but we presently don't know whether these two are the consequence of the same "dark thing".The research is going on and we may soon come a conclusion. But we know that if dark matter bounds the universe then dark energy tends to tear it apart, it is a repulsive force. The reason we are not experiencing this force may be because gravity is little much stronger and that's why we have observed that "red shift" that points that the universe is expanding.

And here comes the most exiting part! GRAVITY vs DARK ENERGY, who will win? Well we don't know the answer but this is sure that if either of the two become extremely powerful then the consequences won't be in our favour! Still this topic remains as one of the most mysterious ones and the mystery never ends!

So that's only for now , stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe to your favourite 

The Mysterious Cosmos

written by

Aviral Srivastava 

find me on Instagram: avirals_22

email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Solar Eclipse (Astronomy Events part-3)

Well my last post was that i won't write any posts till my exams, but I am happy to say that I couldn't control myself because of the upcoming Solar Eclipse( March 8-9,2016). Personally I am very exited about this event, maybe because I missed the Venus Transit  of 2012. So, now let's come back to the topic, some points you all need to remember, if you want to experience the eclipse, are:-

-The eclipse will begin at 23:19 UTC on March 8, 2016, and its maximum point will take place at 01:59 UTC on March 9, 2016. Totality will last for 4 minutes and 9 seconds.

-The total solar eclipse would be visible from parts of Indonesia and some locations in the Pacific Ocean. Observers from East Australia, Southeast Asia and East Asia will observe a partial eclipse.

Locations from which the eclipse would be visible, the time will be the same but will depend on the local time.(source:Google)

Some precautions that need to taken care of:-

-If you love your eyes and don't want lose them then don't forget to wear a proper eye protection.

- If you are viewing it via a telescope then never ever look directly through a naked eyepiece, use a solar filter or the best way is the projection method( placing a sheet of paper in front of the eyepiece and viewing the image projected on the sheet)

-You can also use a pinhole camera to observe the eclipse.

So be prepared and don't forget the date and time and at last take care of your eyes!!!

By : Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram : avirals_22

For queries related to the eclipse write to me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Break for a Month

Hello audience!, perhaps you would be sad to know that I am taking a break, I won't post till March end. But don't think I am bored with the blog, that can never happen, it's just that my Final Terminals are on the way and that's why I will be off for a while.
Don't be sad!, when I will return I surprise you all with a row of posts!
Stay tuned!!

By : Aviral Srivastava
Email me at:

aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Sunita Williams

I think the previous Friday (26/2/16) was the best day of my life. I met Sunita Williams that day!!!, yes no other than Captain Sunita Williams!!!! I met shook hands with her and clicked a photo with. It was a lifetime experience! I really feel inspired and blessed  very  after meeting such a great personality. 

Me and my friends from BAL BHARATI PUBLIC SCHOOL, PITAMPURA,DELHI (In blueish-grey blazer. )

India at its best

So the LIGO Team has finally detected gravitational wave at their lab in Washington. I have posted about this already, so I won't talk about it much. This post is about my country, India!!. India is all set to become the leading space researcher!!!!!

Yes, The Government Of India along with Pune and Indore scientists has tied up with the LIGO Team, and they are set to build an detector at Pune,India!!!!. This is a very proud news for every Indian because are advancing very fast. I am very excited!!, this will create many research opportunities in the near future, which are scarce in India at present.

Locations present and up-coming LIGO Labs

The Lab is under construction , the contract was signed in 2012 and the expected to be completed by 2020!!, so we don't have to wait for long, just a mere gap of four years.

At last I would say " Modiji tusi Great ho" and "PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN"

Written by

Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram : avirals_22

Email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Gravitational Waves Detected

I think I am late with this post , because I was busy in my exams, but still the news is not that old!!.

Till now most of you would have some information about this, yes, it may sound like a dream!, but it's true. The LIGO team  has detected gravitational waves!!!. I think it is the greatest discovery of this century, this would change our current perspective of the universe. This  discovery would revolutionize the whole world of astronomy!.

It has been once again proved that Einstein  was the greatest man ever, there is nothing left on which we can say that he was wrong. All of his theories have been proved, though it took a century for us to do that, but that's just another sign which shows he had the greatest thinking power!

An illustration of ripples being generated when two black holes collide.

As shown in the picture above, the LIGO team has detected these ripples due to a minor displacement in the the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, at their lab in Washington, and that displacement was just half the diameter of a nucleus!!!. 

Diagram of the LIGO aperture

For more information watch the video below.

Written by : Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram : avirals_22

Emal me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

Free Fall

Long back since Aristotle's times , people have wondered about objects of different mass and surface area would fall during a free fall??? Would they fall at the same rate??, or one would fall faster than the other??, or they wouldn't even fall!!!???(in vacuum).

For centuries we were looking  these answers, but could not find them. Galileo in experiment on the Leaning Tower of Pisa, proved that the rate of falling objects(in presence of air) doesn't depend upon their masses, instead it was determined by their surface areas!!!

Still we were not sure what will happen if these objects are made to fall in vacuum. Atlast we have found the answer!!!, in the NASA'S Space Power Facility , which is the world's largest vacuum chamber, researchers have shown what really happens in such conditions.

So sit back and watch this amazing video.

Stellarium

Amateur astronomers, this one is for you!!

New and amatreur astronomers, having trouble in pointing out celestial objects in the
 night sky?, then you have to get this is easy to operate sky-stimulator "stellarium". And all of
your problems will be solved , it is really very helpful. So now grab your telescopes and take
full enjoyment of each and every object in the night sky( not possible though xD).

But wait, this doesn't ends here!! there are features too!!, you can get previews of all the eclipses  and events, plus it supports daytime viewing also. It is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS , it is also there for Android and iOS.

For more info and to download it go to the link : http://www.stellarium.org/

A view of the night sky from Stellarium

Written by:Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram : avirals_22

Email me at: aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

The king of the rings

When we classify objects as opaque, transparent and translucent , we often think that the basis for this classification is the amount of matter in it, but here we are wrong( see my "translucent" post for more info). The new research of Saturn's ring has also pointed this out.

 According to a recent study of the rings using data from NASA’s Cassini mission. In their analysis, scientists found surprisingly little correlation between how dense a ring might appear to be — in terms of its opacity and reflectiveness — and the amount of material it contains.The new results concern Saturn’s B ring, the brightest and most opaque of Saturn’s rings, and are consistent with previous studies that found similar results for Saturn’s other main rings.

While the opacity of the B ring varies a lot but on the other hand its mass seemed to be constant.They “weighed” the nearly opaque center of the B ring for the first time — technically, they determined its mass density in several places — by analyzing spiral density waves. These are fine-scale ring features created by gravity tugging on ring particles from Saturn’s moons and the planet’s own gravity. The structure of each wave depends directly on the amount of mass in the part of the rings where the wave is located.

This research has laid important implications for their age, a more massive ring would evolve slowly than a less massive one, becoming darkened by dust from meteorites and other cosmic sources more quickly. Thus, the less massive the B ring is, the younger it might be, perhaps a few hundred million years instead of a few billion.

Despite the low mass found by Hedman and Nicholson, the B ring is still thought to contain the bulk of material in Saturn’s ring system. And although this study leaves some uncertainty about the ring’s mass, a more precise measurement of the total mass of Saturn’s rings is on the way. Previously, Cassini had measured Saturn’s gravity field, telling scientists the total mass of Saturn and its rings. In 2017, Cassini will determine the mass of Saturn alone by flying just inside the rings during the final phase of its mission. The difference between the two measurements is expected to finally reveal the rings’ true mass.

By : Aviral Srivastava 

find me on Instagram as : avirals_22

email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

1000+

Welcome back!
The Mysterious Cosmos has crossed 1000 views!!!!, thanks a lot guys for your support and I hope you all will continue to be a part of the blog and support it till the end!

As I remain busy in weekdays, because of school , I will be posting on weekends at least 2-4 posts per week, so stay tuned and please FOLLOW using your email account.

Thanks again  

Regards
Aviral Srivastava ( author of The Mysterious Cosmos)

Find me on Instagram : avirals_22

email me at: aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

My Astrophotos

Astrophotography, is a specialized type of photography for recording images of astronomical objects and large areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was not until the late 19th century that advances in technology allowed for detailed stellar photography. Besides being able to record the details of extended objects such as the Moon, Sun, and planets, astrophotography has the ability to image objects invisible to the human eye such as dim stars, nebulae, and galaxies. Photography revolutionized the field of professional astronomical research, with long time exposures recording hundreds of thousands of new stars and nebulae that were invisible to the human eye, leading to specialized and ever larger optical telescopes that were essentially big cameras designed to collect light to be recorded on film. 

These are the few photos from my collection, 

My telescope pointing at the Moon

Telescopic view of the Moon via "moon filter"

Sunrise

FOR MORE SUCH PHOTOS STAY TUNED TO "THE MYSTERIOUS COSMOS"
By : Aviral Srivastava
find me on Instagram : avirals_22
email me at: aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

The beauty of a line! (astronomy events part-2)

Welcome back audience!!

Ever wondered how a line can amuse you by its magnificent look? Sometimes its just a matter of excitement that something can give you! So tight your hands !, grab your telescopes !, and be ready with your cameras to capture a magnificent view of the sky in morning this week!

So basically what is going to happen is that the all the classical planets are visible on the line of their orbit, well you would think that it is not a big thing, but wait! , all this is going to happen on the same time and thats the interesting part of it.

All though mercury is shown here it wont be visible in the telescope or to the naked eye.

Four  planets adorn the morning sky this week — the same quintet of “wanderers” (Venus  to Saturn) our ancient ancestors recognized as being different from the background stars. Head outside about 45 minutes before sunrise and you will see the solar system objects spread out across approximately 110°. 

Start with Jupiter in the southwestern sky, then pick up Mars nearly due south, Saturn climbing in the southeast, brilliant Venus to its lower left, and lastly Mercury hanging low in the twilight. The view of the five improves over the next week or two as Mercury climbs higher and grows brighter.

Stellarium view the event from Southern Hemisphere.

By the time morning twilight starts to paint the sky, both Venus and Saturn appear prominent in the southeast. Venus shines brilliantly at magnitude –4.0 — the brightest point of light in the sky.

Although Venus may be brighter, there’s no denying the charms of neighboring Saturn. The ringed planet shines at magnitude 0.5 and lies 15° to Venus’ upper right. When viewed through a telescope, Saturn shows a 16"-diameter disk surrounded by a stunning ring system that spans 36" and tilts 26° to our line of sight.

The Red Planet has also now brightened considerably since the start of the New Year, shining at magnitude 0.8. Mars’ rapid motion nearly matches the Sun’s pace, so the world rises only about a half-hour earlier at January’s close than it did on New Year’s Day.

Mars was a telescopic dud during 2015 because its diameter never exceeded 5.5". That starts to change in January because the planet pulls significantly closer to Earth. By month’s end, it appears 6.8" across and may start to show some subtle surface markings through larger scopes. Conditions will improve quickly this spring as Mars approaches opposition in May, when it will appear bigger and brighter than at any time since 2005.

Mercury approaches Venus as this week progresses. The innermost planet stands 9° high in the southeast a half-hour before sunrise on the 31st, when you can locate it 7° to Venus’ lower left. It shines at magnitude 0.0 and should show up clearly through binoculars.

written by : Aviral Srivastava

find me on Instagram :avirals_22

email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

A new planet out there?

On Jan. 20, 2016, scientists announced the discovery of what could be a giant planet in the Kuiper Belt at the outer edge of our solar system. Nicknamed "Planet Nine," the world is a behemoth - about 10 times the mass of the Earth. It would take the planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to orbit the sun.

The evidence for existence of Planet-9.

Evidence for Planet Nine was unveiled by researchers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. The scientists used mathematical modeling and computer simulations to make the find, but have not actually observed the planet directly.

Written by : Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram : avirals_22

Please like , share and follow! 

ISRO AT ITS BEST

PSLV-C31

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 33^rd  flight (PSLV-C31), launches IRNSS-1E, the fifth satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). The launch took place from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.  As in the previous four launches of IRNSS satellites, PSLV-C31 uses ‘XL’ version of PSLV. This is the eleventh time ‘XL’ configuration was flown, earlier ten being PSLV-C11/Chandrayaan-1, PSLV-C17/GSAT-12, PSLV-C19/RISAT-1, PSLV-C22/IRNSS-1A, PSLV-C25/Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, PSLV-C24/IRNSS-1B, PSLV-C26/IRNSS-1C, PSLV-C27/IRNSS-1D, PSLV-C28/DMC-3 and PSLV-C30/ASTROSAT  mission .

PSLV-C31 lift off

IRNSS-1E

IRNSS-1E is the fifth navigation satellite of the seven satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment. Its predecessors, IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C and 1D were launched by PSLV-C22, PSLV-C24, PSLV-C26 and PSLV-C27 in July 2013, April 2014, October 2014 and March 2015 respectively. IRNSS-1E has a lift-off mass of 1425 kg. The configuration of IRNSS-1E is similar to that of IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C and 1D. 

IRNSS -1E carries two types of payloads – navigation payload and ranging payload. The navigation payload of IRNSS-1E will transmit navigation service signals to the users. This payload will be operating in L5-band and S-band. A highly accurate Rubidium atomic clock is part of the navigation payload of the satellite. The ranging payload of IRNSS-1E consists of a C-band transponder which facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite. IRNSS-1E also carries Corner Cube Retro Reflectors for laser ranging.

PSLV-C31 Successfully launches IRNSS-1E  on January 20, 2016 at 09:31 Hrs (IST) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, the spaceport of India.

IRNSS-1E

Source : isro.gov.in

rewritten by : Aviral Srivastava

Find me on Instagram as : avirals_22

Astronomy events-2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS!!(umm..sorry for being late)

So at last 2015 ended a few days ago! , and I welcome you all to 2016. Sadly 2015 passed away without much event but you guys would be happy to know that 2016 will be an exiting year!! full of events and enjoyment. Here is a list of them for which I am eagerly waiting for! BE READY!!!

January 9(at down): A rare chance to see Venus and Saturn in the same telescopic field! 

January 19 : The Moon will occult Aldebaran(Taurus) but this would be visible only from North America.

February 7 - Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation. The planet Mercury reaches greatest western elongation of 25.6 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

March 8: Jupiter at opposition—that means it’s opposite the Sun in the sky, so it’s up all night, and as close to Earth as it gets for the year. This is the best time to observe it!

May 9: Mercury transits the Sun. This may be the biggest event of the year; transits are relatively rare and very cool to watch. I’ll have a blog post about this in a few months, closer to the date.

June 3: Saturn at opposition. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Saturn through a telescope, so this’ll be nice.

Wait, there are many more!!! but I would tell you guys about them in my another post , till then wait for these and enjoy. 

Once again a very Happy New Year!

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