ISRO’s Aditya-L1 Joins Global Effort in Landmark Solar Storm Study

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In Summary

Aditya-L1, working with six US satellites, confirmed that the May 2024 “Gannon’s storm” intensified due to a rare magnetic reconnection triggered by colliding CMEs, which abruptly reversed magnetic fields and accelerated charged particles.

In Summary

Solar Storms and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

Solar storm is composed of a series of giant explosions on the Sun, known as CMEs.
A CME is like a massive bubble of hot gas and magnetic energy thrown out from Sun into space.
- On hitting the Earth, they can impact earth’s magnetic shield disturbing satellites, communication, GPS, and even power grids.

Along with six U.S. Satellites, Aditya-L1 revealed that the May 2024 strong solar storm, called Gannon’s storm behaved unusually due to Magnetic Reconnection Event.

Key Findings

Magnetic Reconnection: During the 2024 storm, Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) collided in space and squeezed each other so firmly that the magnetic field lines inside one of them snapped and rejoined in new ways, a process called magnetic reconnection.
Impact: Sudden reversal of magnetic field made the storm stronger, causing speeding up of particles due to increase in energy, confirming the magnetic reconnection event.

About Aditya L-1

It is first space based observatory class Indian solar mission to study the Sun.
Launched on September 2023 on board PSLV C57.
Placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of Sun-Earth system, about 1.5 million km from Earth.
- L1 point offers continuous view of Sun without any occultation/eclipses.
Has 7 distinct payloads including Visible Emission Line Coronagraph; Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer; Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya; etc.