As skygazers gear themselves up to witness the century's longest Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) tomorrow, scientists would be observing the Sun at subtler levels to study the rare celestial event and its effects.
Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Indian Space Research Organisation and Physical Research Laboratory have made elaborate arrangements to study the eclipse.
"Indian Institute of Geomagnetism for the first time has set up experiments using high sensitivity digital instruments at Dibrugarh, Ujjain and Bhagalpur, to study the changes in the electrical conductivity of the ionosphere and pressure waves in the atmosphere," its director Dr Archana Bhattacharyya said.
This will give the scientific community an opportunity to study the effects of TSE on electrical fields in the ionosphere, on its electrical conductivity and hence on the geomagnetic field.
Its effect on propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere and gravity waves in the atmosphere will also be studied.
At IIG's Allahabad centre, scientists have set up experiments to look at radiowaves reflected from the ionosphere using an Ionospheric Sounder (IONOSONDE) for calculation of the density of electrons in the ionosphere.
"Greater effects of TSE are expected at Dibrugarh in Assam, but the results in Allahabad, which is at the edge of totality path may also be interesting," she said.
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