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Ooty Telescope Uncovers Unique Trick: Scientists to Detect Cloud Electricity from Earth.
- •Scientists have found a new method to determine the amount of electricity within clouds from Earth, eliminating the need for rockets or aircraft.
- •The GRAPES-3 telescope in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, discovered this technique, recording approximately four billion muons daily.
- •Muons are particles formed by cosmic rays from space, reaching Earth at the speed of light.
- •As muons pass through clouds, their speed and number change based on the electricity present, allowing scientists to estimate the electric field.
- •Located at an altitude of 2200 meters, the GRAPES-3 telescope's detectors span 560 square meters, aiding in the study of storms.
Key Questions Answered
The GRAPES-3 telescope detects cloud electricity by tracking cosmic-ray-derived particles called muons. When muons pass through thunderstorms, their speed and number change depending on the electric field intensity inside the clouds, allowing scientists to estimate cloud electricity from the ground without sending rockets or aircraft.
Muons are extremely small particles formed when high-speed cosmic rays, primarily protons from space, collide with Earth's upper atmosphere and travel down toward Earth at the speed of light. Their numbers are altered when they encounter high-electricity regions within clouds.
Researchers studying GRAPES-3 data from April 2011 to December 2020 discovered that the higher recorded number of eastern storms was caused by Earth's magnetic field and how it affected the trajectory and behavior of muons, rather than actual weather patterns which showed more westward-moving storms on ground sensors.
