Why in News?
Aditya-L1, India’s first solar observatory mission, played a major global role in explaining why the May 2024 solar storm (Gannon’s storm) behaved unusually.
Description:
About Aditya-L1:
1. Mission Type & Objective:
- India’s first dedicated solar mission.
- Developed by ISRO.
- Main objective: Continuous observation of the Sun’s corona, solar wind, solar flares, Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and space weather.
- Helps predict geomagnetic storms that impact satellites, communication networks, navigation, and power grids.
NOTE: A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is a massive burst of solar wind, magnetic fields, and solar plasma that is violently expelled from the Sun’s outermost atmosphere (the corona) into space.
2. Orbit & Placement — Lagrange Point L1:
- Positioned at Sun–Earth L1 point, ~1.5 million km from Earth.
- Why L1?
- An uninterrupted view of the Sun (no eclipses).
- Ability to detect solar activity 60–90 minutes before it affects Earth.
- Stable environment requiring minimal fuel as it balances the gravitational pull of the Sun and Earth against the centrifugal force of the satellite’s motion.
3. Scientific Payloads (Seven Instruments):
| To observe the Sun: | To study space environment around L1: |
| VELC – Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (studies corona; key instrument). SUIT – Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UV images of photosphere and chromosphere). SoLEXS – Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (solar soft X-rays). HEL1OS – High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer. | ASPEX – Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (solar wind ions/electrons). PAPA – Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya. MAG – Magnetometer (precise magnetic field measurements; critical in 2024 storm analysis). In the news: MAG data helped detect the unprecedented magnetic reconnection region in the 2024 solar storm. |
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