Jaipur, Oct. 9 -- In the middle of Udaipur's scenic Fatehsagar lake stands Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO), one of India's only two such scientific institutions, which is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. The USO was established in September 1975 by astronomer Dr Arvind Bhatnagar, who modelled it on the Solar Observatory at Big Bear Lake in Southern California. The only other solar observatory in India is located in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu. "The conditions of the skies in Udaipur are quite favourable for solar observations. The observatory is situated in a large mass of water so that air turbulence, which occurs due to the sun heating the ground, is reduced. This improves the image quality and accuracy," said Prof Bhuwan Joshi, deputy director at USO. In context of India's Aditya L-1 solar mission, launched in September 2023, the work at the USO gains more significance. Aditya-L1 carries seven scientific payloads, four of which remotely observe the Sun and solar eruptions, while the other three make in-situ measurements of the space environment at Point L1. Aditya spacecraft has travelled 1.5 million km from earth to Point L1 in space from where it is observing the sun round the clock and providing important data. "These observations offer a unique opportunity to trace solar disturbances from their origin on the Sun to their propagation through interplanetary space. This helps scientists better understand the origin and evolution of space weather and strengthens efforts to develop reliable forecasting capabilities," explained Prof Joshi. "The sun is 150 million km from earth. The Aditya spacecraft has travelled 1.5 million km from earth to Point L1 from where it is observing the sun and providing important data. This information helps us develop new technology to create monitoring systems to alert us during natural calamities," he said. As USO marks 50 years of solar research, this integrated ground- and space-based approach is helping advance cutting-edge research in heliophysics and strengthen our understanding of the Sun-Earth connection, he added. During the inauguration of the observatory in 1975, the then chief minister of Rajasthan, Haridev Joshi and Gujarat, Babubhai Patel, were both present. Among the illustrious scientists who have visited USO was astrophysicist and Nobel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. The Udaipur Solar Observatory is known globally for highest quality observational solar research. It is equipped with the Multi Application Solar Telescope (MAST) which has a 50 cm diameter that can capture high spatial and temporal resolution images of solar magnetic fields, velocity fields, and chromospheric activities to study solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Prof Joshi said the solar physics research group focuses on understanding the physics of solar oscillations, evolution of sunspots, sunspot fine structure, MHD processes in the solar atmosphere, coronal heating, solar eruptions and space weather prediction. "Space is not a vacuum. It has particles, plasma and magnetic fields. Space has weather which is environmental conditions caused by solar activity," he said. Solar activity can also damage satellites in space and disrupt power grids and navigation and communication systems on Earth. "The sun has continuous activity like solar winds, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These influence weather in space. We have satellites, the International Space Station and navigation and communication systems in space and to protect these space assets, it is necessary to understand what is happening in the sun," he said....