Measurement and Analysis of Kodaikanal Solar Images, Award in Indian Currency

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Description: Under this project, scientists from the U.S. and from India will work to enlarge the data base on the motion of sunspots. The source of the new data is the Indian white-light solar plates began in 1905 in the Kodaikanal Observatory, which is of excellent quality. The combination of the Kodaikanal and Mount Wilson data could make the finest sunspot data set in existence. It will provide many times the number of sunspots now available for statistical studies of rotation and latitude drift and spot areas. This will increase the precision of the averaged results for the cycle-related rotation rate changes found in the data set. It will also increase the confidence in small-amplitude effects which is low given the the limits of the U.S. data set, as well as increase the potential for detecting low-amplitude effects. These measured drifts have an important bearing on the large-scale dynamics of the solar convection zone and is believed to be responsible for the 11-year activity cycle. Scope: The U.S. P.I. Dr. Robert Howard, of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, AZ, and the Indian P.I. Dr. K.R. Sivaraman, of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, (IIA) in Bangalore, India have collaborated in earlier studies under the Mount Wilson Program funded by NSF/AST. This action extends and formalizes the international collaboration by providing funds to the NSO for the per diem of the Indian scientists, ans providing IIA with funds in Indian currency for travel to the U.S. and for computer operation for digitization of data. Funding: This project is being funded under two grants: 1. To The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy $10,500 plus $36,355 in Indian Currency 2. To the Indian Insitute of Astrophysics $49,600 in Indian Currency.