A team of researchers from India found a way to predict the shape of the Sun's corona

• A team of Indian researchers were able to predict the Sun’s corona correctly.
• This model can also be used to predict the weather in space, and check its impact on astronauts and earth among others.

While the whole world was gazing at the much-awaited ‘total solar eclipse’ on July 2, a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata was busy comparing their prediction of the shape of the Sun's atmosphere with the actual eclipse.

And, the team got it right. The computer-model that team had built, was in line with the major features of the actual eclipse. The model by IISER researchers can now be used to predict the shape of the Sun's corona beforehand, $4

The Weather in Space

The teams had predicted a model of the Sun’s atmosphere. According to reports, this model can also be used to predict the weather in space, and check its impact on astronauts and earth among others.

Indians were not able to enjoy the total solar eclipse. The eclipse was visible in South Pacific region and some parts of South America, said The Weather Channel.

“We now know the basic theoretical premise of our computational modelling is correct. This work has given us confidence to utilise similar theoretical models for supporting the interpretation of data from India's Aditya-L1 solar space mission which is currently under development,” says Prof. Nandi, who was a part of the team.

The team predicted two petal like formation on either side of the corona along with extended plume like structure — that would be stretched in the solar system from their tips. The prediction was done through a two-step process. The first step was to predict the form of Sun’s surface magnetic field on the day of eclipse. Further, the second step was to reveal the structure of Corona using another model.