Following the sun: How a zig-zag journey led her to Aditya-L1

One of the lead investigators of a team studying sunspot waves on India’s first solar observation mission, astrophysicist Aishawnnya Sharma will decode data, which will help with space weather forecasting, safeguard satellites and communication systems, and deepen our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic dynamics

By Angana Chakrabarti

| Posted on May 8, 2025

Aishawnnya Sharma’s tryst with the stars started when she was in school. She often wondered why something was the way it was. Soon, these questions spun into a larger inquiry about the universe. Twenty-five years later, in 2021, she was chosen to lead a team responsible for studying sunspot waves in the solar atmosphere by the Aditya L-1 mission, India’s first-ever solar observation mission. Sunspots are areas on the sun’s surface that appear dark because they are cooler than the other parts.

Aishawnnya studied at Dipankar Vidyapith, an Assamese medium school in Jorhat until class 10. “I enjoyed the solitude during my daily walk to the school and back, and would often do calculations in my head. When I could figure out answers to questions, it would make me happy… The journey of my questions continued. Until I got to my PhD, I was completely absorbed [by these questions].”

Dr Aishawnnya (35), who also teaches physics at Bahona College’s Department of Physics, added that although her interest in physics had started early on, her journey to astronomy happened because of an “internal search”.

“Mine was a very zig-zag path [in life],” she explained.

With Prof Tripathi at IUCAA in 2018

A curious introvert

Aishawnnya was born in Jorhat, a district in the Upper Assam belt, to homemaker Deepali Sharma and Bichitra Sharma, who worked at Tocklai Tea Estate. In Aishawnnya’s words, until about Class 4, she was still a “mediocre student”.

“We did not have many options [avenues for learning]. We just had our textbooks. So that was where my curiosity started, and I became interested in maths and the sciences,” she said, adding that her teachers played a big role. However, it was only in class 9 and after, that Aishawnnya became interested in questions about the universe. Her childhood friend, Dr Kangkana Bora, and principal of Dipankar Vidyapith, Nandini Siddhanta, similarly described her journey in school. “Astronomy has been a part of her vision since childhood. We knew she was fascinated when she spoke about stars,” said Bora, an Assistant Professor at Cotton University in Guwahati, while describing her as studious. “Normally, the good student chases marks, but her vision was different. For her, marks did not matter; the concept should be clear. Despite this, she was still the topper.”

“In the primary classes, Aishawnnya was an average student,” said Nandini Siddhanth. “But she studied hard and was the topper from our school in the HSLC [Higher School Leaving Certificate]. All the teachers of our school who taught her at that period noticed her inquisitiveness and thirst for knowledge.”

Bora also concurred, noting that Aishawnnya was always very observant and reserved, “She did not open up that quickly, but when she does, she is with them for life.” In Class 12, as a student of Luit Valley Academy, Aishawnnya could not secure the marks to pursue a BSc in Physics from the University of Delhi. She enrolled in the Bachelor of Science (Physics) programme at Jagannath Barooah College under Dibrugarh University.“We did not have an astronomy paper. So, I did not study it in my undergraduate college. When I went to college, I would attend the conventional classes. During intervals, I would study space magazines in the library. I also tried to explore [these topics] through the internet,” she said.

Aishawynna’s meandering path would eventually lead her to pursue a Master’s in Physics at Tezpur University. During this time, an internship Aishawynna undertook at Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences in Nainital became pivotal in her pursuit of the stars. “There I met people and we could talk about astronomy.”

In the right orbit

In 2015, Aishawynna enrolled in the graduate school at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), which is conducted jointly with the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA). At IUCAA, she met Professor Durgesh Tripathi for the first time. Prof Tripathi, a coveted scientist in the field of solar astrophysics, was heading a partner group with Germany’s Max-Planck Institute of Solar System Research, with collaborations with many prestigious institutes of the world.

“At the end of graduate school, I had worked on a solar astrophysics project, which I enjoyed,” she said, adding, “I felt this was something I wanted to continue doing and join Prof Tripathi on the Max-Planck project [Max Planck India Partner Group].”

SUIT instrumentation lab at IUCAA

“The main scientific objective of this collaboration [between IUCAA and Max-Planck] is to study the dynamics and coupling of the solar atmosphere with emphasis on eruptive phenomena on the Sun, heating of the upper solar atmosphere i.e., corona and chromosphere, and sun-climate relationship,” states the Max-Planck Institute’s website.

So, Aishawynna enrolled at Tezpur University’s PhD programme and chose Prof Tripathi and Tezpur University’s Prof Gazi Ameen Ahmed as her PhD supervisors. Tezpur University and IUCAA have a strong academic collaboration, particularly in the field of astrophysics, and Aishawynna could apply for the position of Junior Research Fellow with the Max Planck Partner Group. Soon, she packed her bags and moved to Pune. The next few years would be one of the most fruitful times in Aishawynna’s life.

“In the sun, there are a lot of disturbances in the form of waves and oscillations. We have to detect those waves and characterise their properties and learn how they can affect other solar phenomena — how those waves can trigger explosive events,” she said. An example of these disturbances are sunspot oscillations and waves. According to NASA’s website, sunspots are cooler regions on the Sun caused by a concentration of magnetic field lines and are the visible components of active regions.

Janmejoy Sarkar is a senior research fellow at IUCAA, who also did his PhD from Tezpur University and has been working with Aishawynna on the Aditya-L1 mission. “The sun is the powerhouse of the solar system. Whenever sunspots are formed, these high-energy regions can cause eruptions, throwing out a lot of material that make their way towards the Earth.”

As sunspots go up and down during the sun’s 11-year natural cycle, they are helpful in the study of the solar cycle. In her first year at IUCAA, Aishawynna studied the different types of sunspot oscillations and waves, which play an important role in the heating of the upper atmosphere of the sun.

“Different features observed over sunspots at different atmospheric heights host a variety of waves, such as the five-minute photospheric oscillations, the three-minute chromospheric oscillations, umbral flashes and waves, running penumbral waves, and propagating coronal waves,” notes the 2017 study in which Aishawynna was the lead author.

At Heliophysics Summer School 2016 Boulder Colorado USA. A summer school funded by NASA and managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)%2C USA

The researchers used data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and found how umbral flashes, a particular type of brightening event, influence other waves in the sunspot and the sun’s outer atmosphere (corona).

“We could see connections of different layers. These [different] waves have some symmetrical connection, and the lower waves are propagated up to the solar atmosphere,” Aishawynna said. “It took me some time to get this paper published. It got rejected twice. But I was sure that the result was correct. We worked on it, and finally it was published in the Astrophysical Journal. Having my first ever paper published in a reputed journal like the Astrophysical Journal really motivated me.”

In a second study published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal in 2020, Aishawynna and several researchers studied the waves in the sun’s outer atmosphere. Janmejoy remarked that Aishawynna’s PhD project studying sunspot waves was “unique”. “She gained a lot of expertise in that field,” he said. Aishawynna also recalled, “During the PhD, I met students from all over the world… I worked hard, day and night. I learnt many things, read books and enjoyed exploring other sports and activities like swimming, volleyball, and trekking. I also travelled to many places, including Leh, Cambodia and the USA (a trip funded by NASA).”

At DAMTP University of Cambridge 2022 ( visit under Royal Astronomical Society Travel Award Grant)

To the sun we go

September 2, 2023. It had been three years since Aishawynna had joined the Physics Department of Bahona College as an Assistant Professor. At least 300 people, including Aishawynna, other faculty members and students, had gathered in the auditorium. They waited with bated breath for the launch of Aditya-L1 aboard the PSLV C57, which was successful.

“It was indeed a great feeling. Although I was not directly involved, I had seen Prof Tripathi and his team working day and night to build the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope [SUIT]… Earlier, we were using data from some missions from the US, Japan and Europe. Now that we have our own mission, we can have our own science objectives and collect our own data for that,” Aishawynna said, adding that they would no longer have to look at archives of other missions to see if available data aligned with their objectives. “We can now write our proposals and specify the data we need.”

The objective of the Aditya L-1 mission included studying the corona, solar eruptions, solar flares and coronal loops, which are curving strands of plasma that appear as arcs above the sun’s surface. In the next 126 days, the spacecraft injected into the Halo orbit, located about 1.5 km from Earth, collected data about the sun.

Aishawynna’s work on the project as the joint-lead investigator of a team studying sunspot waves only began after data from the Aditya-L1 started coming in. Sarkar, who had worked to build SUIT, added, “Aishwannya’s role has been to study sunspots… We do not have any information about these wavelengths. What she is doing is trying to understand from previously observed data how to correlate those studies with what we are seeing now.”

Studying sunspot waves is crucial as it helps predict space weather, protect satellites and communication systems, improve climate models, enhance astronaut safety, support deep space missions, and deepen our understanding of the Sun’s interior and magnetic activity.

Aishawynna explained the ongoing work. “We sometimes have meetings… I also visited IUCAA in July and got raw data. This process will continue.” “To get output, you need full commitment, and you have to constantly juggle, which becomes difficult sometimes, being a woman.

But I love my subject. If you love the subject, stick to it and work with honesty and dedication,” she added.

Aditya L1 launch screening at Bahona College Auditorium.jpeg

According to her, teaching has also been another step in the ‘zig-zag’ path. “It is a blessed profession that fosters internal growth. You can see from the eyes of the students when they understand something. I strive to inspire them early on to recognise their uniqueness and choose a career accordingly. In particular, I encourage students with a keen interest in research to apply for national-level internship programs. So far, three of my students have been selected for such prestigious programs, including the NIUS Physics and Astronomy initiatives. Students are intelligent and capable—we just need to guide them in the right direction,” she added.

About the author

Angana Chakrabarti is an independent journalist covering health, politics, policy, and the environment. She has been reporting on the Northeast for the last three years, tracking the Manipur conflict, the lack of representation of women in politics in Nagaland, and even Assam’s infamous ‘pig-heart’ doctor. She received the RedInk Award 2022 for her story on mosque vandalisms in Tripura. She has a Master’s in Migration Studies from the Universitat de Pompeu Fabra and a Bachelor’s in English and Media Studies from Ashoka University.