Context:
Researchers from Mumbai, Kochi and Japan used the GRAPES-3 telescope in Ooty, Tamil Nadu to study how Earth’s upper-atmosphere temperature and the Sun’s magnetic field affect muons. By analysing 22 years of data, they developed a method to monitor upper-atmospheric changes in real time with high accuracy.
Explanation:
- GRAPES-3 stands for Gamma Ray Astronomy PeV EnergieS phase-3 and is located at Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
- Unlike optical telescopes, GRAPES-3 does not study light; it acts mainly as a muon detector and cosmic-ray tracker.
- Cosmic rays are high-energy particles from space; when they strike Earth’s upper atmosphere, they produce muons.
- Muons are short-lived subatomic particles, similar to electrons but much heavier, and they can travel deep into Earth’s atmosphere before decaying.
- Studying muons provides actionable pathways to discover new physics beyond the Standard Model, image large geologic structures like volcanoes, and develop advanced materials (e.g., semiconductors and batteries). Because of their unique properties, muons serve as vital natural and experimental probes.
- The facility has 16 independent modules, each containing 232 proportional counters made of long steel tubes filled with argon and methane gas.
- When muons pass through these tubes, they create an electrical pulse, recorded as a hit.
- Tubes are arranged in four layers at right angles, helping scientists trace the path and angle of incoming muons.
- Reinforced concrete filters out low-energy particles, allowing only high-energy muons to be counted.
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