Aditya-L1, a new solar observatory that was introduced in 2023, wasted no time to prove its value. Just a few months after its introduction, the spaceship observed one of the most violent outbursts on the sun – from its origin to its full publication.
In February 2024, the sun triggered a massive jet and energy boost into space. Fortunately, Aditya-L1, India's newly launched solar probe, observed. Just a few months after the start, the spaceship recorded the first pictures of A Solar flickers In the lowest layers of the sun atmosphere – a region that other sun observatories cannot see from a distance.
These groundbreaking data provide valuable insights into the creation and development of Solar torches if they move through different layers of the solar atmosphere. By examining these eruptions more precisely, scientists hope to better understand their education, their behavior and their possible effects on earth.
A newcomer under solarobervatories
Aditya-L1 is a latest addition to the many solar probes in space. This Indian solar observatory was launched in September 2023 and quickly let himself be in its position on L1 Lagrange Point, a stable orbit between the earth and the sun. Aditya-L1 equipped with seven scientific instruments did not have to wait long for an important event.
On February 22, 2024, a massive solar flicker of X6.3 class broke out from the sun surface. This type of torch is one of the most powerful radiation eruptions that can interfere with satellites, power grids and radio communication. Just a few months later, similarly intensive torches triggered spectacular auroras that were visible to southern Europe. NASA'S Solardynamic Observatory (Sdo), the solar orbiter of ESA and several floor -based telescopes also turned into these dramatic sun events.
A powerful solar flacker conquers
The Solar Orbiter, in which the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research is involved, circles much closer to the sun, about 42 million kilometers away, compared to 150 million kilometers of Aditya-L1. However, Aditya-L1 has a unique advantage: it can observe where solar flares are created.
When a torch breaks out, it moves through different layers of the solar atmosphere, starting on the surface, which is about 5,800 ° C, and reaches the corona, where the temperatures rise to over one million degrees Celsius. This extreme warming means that the torch of energy in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum emits, starting with visible light, shifting to ultraviolet radiation (UV) and finally generating X -rays in the corona. Scientists believe the increasing temperature of plasma If it moves outside, it is due to the constant outbursts of energy of the sun that heat the surrounding regions.
Both Solar Orbiter and Aditya-L1 wear advanced instruments to pursue these changes. Remarkably, the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (suit) of Aditya-L1 specializes in the detection of UV light with a long wave (200-400 nanometers), so that it can observe the lower chromosphere, the region, in which solar torches, with unprecedented details. So far it had been difficult to examine this critical layer of the sun so strongly.
Dissolve the secrets of sun heating
“It is a great stroke of luck that Aditya-L1 was able to observe such a strong torch at the beginning of his research career,” says Sami Solanki, director of MPS and co-author of the current publication. “Together with observations from other probes and telescopes, this provides a complete picture of the processes for the first time that occur in different layers of the solar atmosphere during a flare,” he adds.
The torch on February 22, 2024 came in a region in the northern hemisphere of the sun under a group of sun spots. It took about 35 minutes and reached its climax around 10:34 p.m.UTC). During this time, a light flash can be seen in the suit pictures in two tightly adjoining areas.
Track the energy across solar layers
For the current publication, the team also analyzed data from the Aditya spectrometer, the solar X-ray spectrometer (SOLEXS) as well as data from other spatial probes and floor-based solar observatories. In this way, the team was able to pursue how the released energy spreads through the different layers of the solar atmosphere. For example, the analysis shows that the torch in the lower solaratmosphere goes directly from a temperature rise of the outer atmosphere, the corona.
Reference: “Near-and mid-and mid-altraviolet Observations of X-6.3 Flare on 2024 February 22 Recorded by the Solar Ultravioet Imaging Telescope on Board Aditya-L1” By Soumya Roy, Sreejith Padinhatteri, to Ramaprakash, Demhilash R. Sarwade, Nived VN, JANMEJOY SARKAR, RAHUL GOPALAKRISHN, Rashikkesh Deogaonkar, K. Sankarasubramanian, Sankarasubramanian, Sami K. Lanki Nandy and Dipankar Banerjee, February 28, 2025, The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Two: 10.3847/2041-8213/ADB0BE
About Aditya-L1
Aditya-L1 is India's first committed solar mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The spaceship introduced in 2023 was developed to examine the sun from the L1 Lagrange Point and to provide continuous observations of solar activity.
An important instrument on board Aditya-L1 is the solar ultraviolet imaging telescope (suit), which was originally designed by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS). Suit was developed, developed, developed and created by the interi-university center for astronomy and astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, India, which also directed the current publication based on the observations of Aditya-L1. Three scientists from MPs are active members of the suit team and contribute their specialist knowledge to this groundbreaking project.
Aditya-L1 aims to promote our understanding of solar torches, the sun atmosphere and space weather and to provide decisive data that could help protect satellites, power grids and communication systems on earth.