Arun Surya

Scientist Astronomy @IIABengaluru
previously @TIFRScience @UCSD
They/Them 🏳️‍🌈

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

This is a sad day when rights fought and won after so much of struggle are erased without any consultation.

[The Hindu @the_hindu]

JUST IN | #LokSabha passes by voice vote Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which proposes to remove transgender people’s right to a self-perceived gender identity and limit the definition of transgender person to people with biological or physiological markers or people belonging to socio-cultural identities.
- @al_lakshman reports

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

Doing Schileren Demonstration again this time for IIA Open Day 2026 @IIABengaluru . Doing it in color filters and also have a new demonstration with Ripple tank for diffraction effects of light. Do come visit on 21 February this Saturday.

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

Academia fronts social performance, in teaching , in talks and interactions. It's a hard place if you are fighting such a disorder. My best moments are when I see people with with similar conditions in talks or conferences. I can't explain the immense love and solidarity I feel.

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

What I miss the most in academia is not having a community for people who are living with OCD or General Anxiety Disorder. It is such a crushing experience and it has been so difficult to communicate how much of a debilitating disability it is. 1/2

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

Even though clouds played spoilsport was able to capture total lunar eclipse at @IIABengaluru yesterday. #LunarEclipse

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

Had so much fun developing lectures and handson for the school!

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

The STAR ( Statistical Techniques in Astronomical Research) school held in VBO , Kavalur ( @IIABengaluru) was an incredible school. From the feedback of students it feels that such types of schools and workshops are necessary in the new age of large data driven astronomy.

[IIAstrophysics @IIABengaluru]

We welcome the participants of the 1st "Statistical Techniques for Astronomy Research" #IIA_STAR, a 6-day workshop at @VBOKavalur on astro-statistics for early-career PhD students in astronomy.

@IndiaDST @karandi65 @fiddlingstars @doot_iia @kodaiastronomy @CosmosMysuru

[IIAstrophysics @IIABengaluru]

Ravinder Banyal of IIA discusses what we know about #Exoplanets as well as our involvement with the SCALES project at @keckobservatory ..

https://t.co/bEfOy7wPRw

@IndiaDST @asipoec @fiddlingstars @ETVBharatEng @doot_iia @CosmosMysuru @VBOKavalur @kodaiastronomy #IIA_Research

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

Schlieren set up for imaging for air flow. Doing this as part of NSD demo at @IIABengaluru

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

@tejnesss Lol I found this to be true also

[Mayank Minky Narang @MinkyAstro]

So I finally crossed the 500 citations mark on ads. Could not have done it without the support of @mpuravankara for giving me the freedom to taking a dive into the unknown and to @arunsuryaofc @Bihan_11 @Its_him_t for their constant help and support.

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

@dorje1974 Congratulations 🎉🎉.

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

Completely agree with this! If anything we should prompt large institutions to hire science illustrators or pay illustrators who can do the work.

[Neel Kolhe @neel_kolhe]

The Astronomy community should vehemently oppose the use of gen-AI in promoting events, it takes away opportunity from illustrators and communicators & enables miscommunication, one could have easily used images from chandrayaan 3 in this instance, the used image is random slop.

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

@eisha_nair ഈനാംപേച്ചിക്ക് മരപ്പട്ടി കൂട്ട്...

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

.@UCSDAstro's ⭐Shelley Wright⭐ has spent her career building telescopes🔭 and instruments used to study supermassive black holes, distant galaxies🪐 and even the search for other life. Learn more about her work in this Q&A: https://t.co/bmydTPoPRq @ikashell

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

It's been amazing this solar maxima with many occasions of aurora visible in Hanle and Ladakh region. @dorje1974 @IIABengaluru

[Dorje Angchuk @dorje1974]

Aurora at 32° North Latitude!!

There was this desire to capture the northern light but it meant spending lots of money to go truly north. But the solar maxima and Ladakh's clear and dark skies made it possible for me to photograph the same here only. (1/n)

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

What a great frame

[Dorje Angchuk @dorje1974]

Star Party with a Celestial Guest!
Just as the sun was about to rise, the cresent moon and the comet (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS 2024) share the sky above the Hanle mountain silhouette. A sureal moment on the 1st October during the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve Star Party celebrated HDSR Hanle

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

@dorje1974 @airtelindia This is great news 🎉

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

I think this is great advice. In the same boat and feeling overwhelmed and confused navigating this space.

[Manu Awasthi @mnwsth]

For incoming faculty members to Indian institutions, if your research requires grants, here are a few tips, mostly distilled from personal experience. Some of it will change as you get accustomed to the system, and more people get to know you, but most of it will be true for early career researchers.

1. Negotiate a start up grant from your institution before joining. Get them to commit to a number, on paper, before joining. Verbal commitments do not mean much.

2. Start applying for external grants as soon as you join. Ideally, in your first semester. You should start putting together grant proposals even before you join.

3. If you are targeting large grants to buy research equipment, there is still nothing better than GoI's funding agencies. Get to know how they work so that you can work with the system. Information is power.

4. When dealing with GoI's / State funding agencies, be prepared for delays. Add at least 6 months to every deadline or milestone and prepare yourself for further delays, especially wrt grant disbursement. Be prepared for unhelpful program managers at the funding agencies. Knowing that delays will occur will help you plan your timelines and deliverables better.

5. Start applying for industrial research grants as soon as possible, especially if your research agenda aligns with the industry. Even if it doesn't right away, there is no harm in talking to people to find alignment. Industry grants (even from the CSR programs) allow much more flexibility and have fewer bureaucratic requirements. In general, dealing with program managers will be much easier.

[Arun Surya @arunsuryaofc]

@ppathak8799 @asipoec @IITKanpur @ESO Hey missed this news. Congrats on the great result!