India’s recent Aditya-L1 solar mission has seized its initial glimpse of a solar flare with its High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) instrument that spotted the impulsive phase of a solar flare. The powerful burst of energy was detected on October 29th, less than two months after Aditya-L1’s launch.
Aditya-L1 is positioned at the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point-1 (L1), a spot that lies about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth in the direction of the sun. This location allows the probe to stay in the same position with minimal fuel usage, making it an ideal place to observe the sun.
Equipped with seven scientific instruments, Aditya-L1 aims to study various aspects of the sun, including the interplanetary magnetic field and the sun’s outer atmosphere. The HEL1OS instrument, in particular, focuses on X-ray emissions from solar flares to gain a better understanding of the high-energy emissions linked to the particles released during these events.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the mission’s milestone. The ISRO also disclosed the testing phase of the HEL1OS, with its first observation of a burst of X-ray activity, which was later confirmed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-18 (GOES-18).
Although HEL1OS is not yet fully operational, scientists are actively tuning and calibrating the instrument to ensure precise data collection.
The Aditya-L1 sun-studying mission exemplifies India’s commitment to space exploration and the pursuit of groundbreaking scientific discoveries. It represents a significant contribution to the global understanding of the sun’s behavior, further expanding humanity’s knowledge of our solar system.
