The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) scientists have reported the “first significant” results from the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) payload of the Aditya-L1 mission.
India’s first solar mission was launched on September 2, 2023, by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
VELC on the Aditya-L1 precisely estimated the onset time of a coronal mass ejection that erupted on the Sun on July 16.
The Sun often spews vast quantities of plasma in violent eruptions called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAp), Bengaluru, developed the VELC.
The unique data obtained from the VELC payload could precisely estimate the onset time of a CME.
CMEs are usually observed in visible continuum light only when they have propagated well away from the sun’s surface.
On January 6, ISRO placed the Aditya-L1 spacecraft in a halo orbit around the first Earth-Sun Lagrange point (or L1).
