Second Century Initiative (2CI) Fellow Sushant Mahajan
Second Century Initiative (2CI) and Ph.D. candidate Sushant Mahajan is studying the activity of the sun to predict dangerous space weather.
Mahajan, from Aurangabad, India, began his college career at the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) where he completed a 5-year integrated course and received a Master of Technology in Engineering Physics. He chose to attend Georgia State for his Ph.D. program after meeting a soon to be Georgia State professor of astronomy and 2CI faculty recruit, Dr. Piet Martens.
“After my third year of engineering, I came to the U.S. to do a research program for undergraduates at Montana State University and that’s where I met Dr. Martens. I immediately knew that I wanted to work with him,” said Mahajan. “He was leaving Montana State to work at Georgia State, so I decided to apply to Georgia State for the opportunity to work with him.”
Mahajan said the overarching goal of his research is to understand and predict the sun’s magnetic activity. He is currently attempting to discover where sunspots, regions of reduced surface temperature that appear as dark spots on the Sun’s photosphere, are originated inside the sun. Once he has done this, he will be able to use his research to assist in the prediction of space weather, specifically solar flares.
“A solar flare is a sudden increase in brightness on the sun. During a solar flare, a particular location in the sun suddenly brightens up and emits a lot of X-ray and ultraviolet radiation,” Mahajan said. “The amplification of the magnetic field is what creates sunspots on the sun and since solar flares originate in magnetically active regions, they usually originate around groups of sunspots.”
In close collaboration with the computer science department, including their data mining lab, Mahajan is using machine learning to create data sets that can be used to predict the occurrence of solar flares. He said that being able to predict solar flares will be helpful for astronauts venturing into space.
“The radiation that is emitted from solar flares is extremely harmful for astronauts in space. We are protected by the atmosphere because it absorbs most of the X-rays until they get to the ground but astronauts in space and our satellites in space are vulnerable to the effects of hard radiation,” Mahajan said. “By being able to predict when these solar flares are going to happen, astronauts will know the best time to complete a mission and be better prepared for an encounter with a solar flare. The applicability of the research that we do and the impact it would have on society is what is exciting.”
According to Mahajan, the prediction of space weather will prove to not only be useful to astronauts, but for other individuals as well. The prediction of geomagnetic storms, solar storm in which the Earth’s magnetosphere is temporarily disrupted, could prove to be extremely useful for individuals flying to different countries.
“Long-haul flights, such as flights that go from the U.S. to cities in Asia, fly very close to the North Pole and if you have a geomagnetic storm at that time, which is driven by the sun’s activity, particles from the sun slam into the Earth’s magnetic field and are diverted by the Earth’s magnetic field towards the North and South Poles where they hit the atmosphere and create auroras,” Mahajan said. “During those events, if you’re flying near the North Pole, you can be exposed to a lot of radiation which is carcinogenic in nature.”
He said the 2CI fellowship has helped him tremendously.
“Coming from India, I had absolutely no finances and no savings when I came to the United States. It definitely helped me take care of my expenses while I’ve been here,” Mahajan said. “Students like me come to the U.S. with just two suitcases. We have to buy everything else here and it’s great if you have that kind of support.”
– Kiana Colquitt, Graduate Administrative Assistant, Office of the Provost