NASA's ten-year-old Aura satellite tracks pollutants

(Phys.org) —NASA's Aura satellite, celebrating its 10th anniversary on July 15, has provided vital data about the cause, concentrations and impact of major air pollutants. With instruments providing key measurements of ...

Image: 3-D-printed satellite imager design

Weirdly organic in appearance, this prototype is the first outcome of an ESA project to develop, manufacture and demonstrate an optical instrument for space with 3D printing.

After Five Years, NASA's Aura Shines Brightly

(PhysOrg.com) -- On July 15, 2004, NASA's Aura spacecraft launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on a mission to study Earth's ozone layer, air quality and climate. Aura's data are helping scientists address ...

Aurangzeb

Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir (Urdu: ابلمظفر- محىالدين - محمد اورنگزيب- عالمگیر, Hindi: अबुल मुज़फ्फर मुहिउद्दीन मुहम्मद औरंगज़ेब आलमगीर) (4 November 1618 [O.S. 25 October] – 3 March 1707 [O.S. 20 February]), more commonly known as Aurangzeb (Hindi: औरंगज़ेब) or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir (Hindi: आलमगीर) ("Conquerer of the World", Urdu: عالمگیر), was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.

Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly half a century, was the second longest reigning Mughal emperor after Akbar. In this period he tried hard to get a larger area, notably in southern India, under Mughal rule than ever before. But after his death in 1707, the Mughal Empire gradually began to shrink. Major reasons include a weak chain of "Later Mughals", an inadequate focus on maintaining central administration leading to governors forming their own empires, a gradual depletion of the fortunes amassed by his predecessors and the growth of secessionist sentiments among the various communities within the Mughal Empire.

The Mughal Empire reached the zenith of its territorial expansion during the reign of Aurangzeb, who may have been the most richest and powerful man alive, during his lifetime victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to more than 1.25 million square miles, ruling over more than 150 million subjects, nearly 1/4th of the world's population.

Aurangzeb authorized the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri over the entire empire, briefly taxed non-Muslims, destroyed many Hindu shrines and executed Guru Tegh Bahadur while at the same time increasing the number of Hindu administrators and senior court officials and giving land grants to Hindu temples.

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