ISRO’s Aditya L1 captures X-ray glimpse of benign solar flare

Other than the solar flare, the HEL1OS observation also detected evidence of these impulsive events that were seen weakly in the GEOS data.

The spacecraft that will travel 1 per cent of the distance to the Sun - the farthest of any India-made satellite - has been on its trajectory towards the L1 point for over six weeks.

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While on its way to the L1 point to get an unobstructed view of the Sun, another scientific instrument on-board India’s first solar observatory Aditya-L1 was turned on at the end of last month. The instrument that detects high energy X-rays emitted by the Sun observed a “benign” solar flare, ISRO said on Tuesday.

The spacecraft that will travel 1 per cent of the distance to the Sun – the farthest of any India-made satellite – has been on its trajectory towards the L1 point for over six weeks. After exiting the Earth’s orbit in September, the spacecraft was to take around 110 days to reach the L1 point. “The spacecraft will start braking to get into the orbit around the L1 point in the first week of January,” an ISRO scientist said.

The High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) payload was switched on by the space agency on October 27. While it is currently “undergoing fine-tuning of thresholds and calibration operations”, it took the first measurements on October 29. These measurements were found to be consistent with the US Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) satellite, the space agency said. “This was the first observation made by the instrument. During this ten hour observation, it detected a benign C -class solar flare.

Other than the solar flare, the HEL1OS observation also detected evidence of these impulsive events that were seen weakly in the GEOS data.

Anonna Dutt

Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More

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