CNN Central News & Networks / ITDC India ePress / ITDC News /Agencies/ Bhopal: CNN Central News and Networks / ITDC India ePress / ITDC News / Agencies, Bhopal: India’s first space-based solar mission, Aditya-L1, has gathered important information about massive eruptions from the Sun. Using its scientific instrument, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), scientists have found that huge clouds of material released from the Sun do not always expand in a uniform shape; instead, their expansion can be uneven in different directions. The discovery could help in understanding space weather and forecasting its effects.
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, conducted the study by combining data from Aditya-L1 with images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and three-dimensional modelling. The research analysed an eruption on the Sun on August 5, 2024. Its findings have been published in the research journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
How the uneven expansion was detected: According to scientists, VELC recorded Doppler shifts in light emitted by the Sun’s hot plasma. This showed that material in some parts of the eruption was moving towards the observer, while material in other parts was moving in the opposite direction. NASA’s instrument provided images of the eruption’s motion across the sky. By combining both sets of data, scientists understood its three-dimensional structure.
The study found that the eruption did not expand uniformly like a spherical bubble. Its tilt and uneven spread in different directions were affecting its shape.
The finding may help space weather forecasting. These eruptions from the Sun are called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). They contain large amounts of charged particles and magnetic fields. When directed towards Earth, they can affect satellites, communication networks and navigation systems. Scientists believe understanding the uneven expansion of eruptions can help better estimate their speed and the time they may take to reach Earth. The discovery is an important scientific achievement for India in the study of space weather.
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