On Thursday, ISRO unveiled the inaugural “selfie” and imagery of Earth and the Moon, marking the initial snapshots captured by Aditya-L1’s onboard camera. Once the spacecraft reaches its designated orbit, it is poised to transmit up to 1,440 images daily to the ground station for analysis. Aditya-L1, en route to the Sun-Earth L1 point, captures self-portraits and visuals of our planet and its lunar companion. The images notably showcase the VELC (Visible Emission Line Coronagraph) and SUIT (Solar Ultraviolet Imager) instruments from Aditya-L1, dated September 4, 2023.
ISRO also shared visuals of Earth and the Moon as perceived by the onboard camera. VELC, the primary payload of Aditya L1, was crafted by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, the SUIT payload was developed by the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune. VELC is a sophisticated coronagraph equipped with 40 intricate optical elements that allow it to precisely block the Sun’s disk, enabling the observation of the fainter corona consistently. Upon reaching its designated orbit, VELC will transmit 1,440 images daily to the ground station for analysis.
VELC, deemed “the largest and most technically challenging” payload on Aditya-L1, underwent integration, testing, and calibration at IIA’s CREST (Centre for Research and Education in Science Technology) campus near Hoskote, with substantial collaboration with ISRO. The successful launch of the Aditya-L1 took place on September 2, utilizing the reliable PSLV-C57 rocket. This mission carries a total of seven diverse payloads designed to study the Sun, with four dedicated to observing solar light and three focused on measuring in situ plasma and magnetic field parameters. Aditya-L1 will occupy a halo orbit around the Lagrangian Point 1 (L1), positioned 1.5 million km from Earth in the direction of the Sun, allowing it to continuously monitor the Sun’s activities.
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