IIA scientists conduct solar experiments in China

"The team informed us that the sky was clear and all instruments worked perfectly. There were two major experiments relating to imaging and other things using a telescope and spectograph," Harish Bhatt, Dean of the Bangalore-based institute, said.

The team headed by IIA Director Siraj Hasan conducted the experiments at Anji, a small hilly area near Hangzhou in China. The analysis of the data of these complex experiments would take some months, he said.

Another team, which was in Varanasi, managed to take photographs of the celestial event while the Patna team ran into an overcast sky, he said.
According to R C Kapoor, one of the scientists who camped in Varanasi, "it was a wonderful experience viewing the eclipse from in front of the Ganges. We were able to take photographs," he said.

According to IIA officials, an eclipse provides a chance to observe the solar corona when the intense light of the photosphere, the visible surface of the Sun which is one million times brighter than the corona, is blocked out for a shortwhile by the moon.