The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has revealed data from the Aditya-L1 satellite, India’s first mission to study the Sun, indicating that the Sun is moving towards its solar maximum, leading to increased activity. ISRO highlighted that between May 8 and 15, 2024, the Active Region AR13664 erupted with several X-class and M-class flares, causing a significant geomagnetic storm on May 11, the most intense in two decades. Images captured by the Solar Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) and the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) onboard the satellite showed the solar flares’ full disk.
The mission’s primary goal is to comprehensively study the Sun and protect Indian satellites from solar flare damage. The satellite’s seven payloads focus on observing the solar atmosphere, especially the chromosphere and corona. Using the data collected in May, ISRO managed to safeguard over 50 satellites worth Rs 50,000 crore. The data indicate magnetically active regions on the Sun’s surface, where large solar flares can originate due to magnetic field changes. These observations help track long-term solar behavior and understand how solar flares heat the chromosphere.
ISRO noted that during the May 10-11 solar storm, the SUIT and VELC instruments were in calibration mode and couldn’t observe the solar activity. However, the VELC resumed operations on May 14 and captured detailed coronal activities using a spectroscopic channel. The Aditya-L1 mission, launched on September 2, 2023, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, aims to provide intricate details of the solar corona by blocking the bright light of the solar photosphere with its occulting disk.
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