Latest news with #Aditya-L1
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Science
- New Indian Express
Breakthrough: IIA Bengaluru uses dish TV antenna to study Sun
BENGALURU: It is possible to measure the Sun's magnetic field using commercial dish TV antennas. In a major breakthrough to study the Sun, the radio astronomy group at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru has proved that low-cost dish antennas that are used for TV networks can be used to observe the Sun and its magnetic field. 'The scientific and technical personnel at IIA, associated with the Gauribidanur radio astronomy field station near Bengaluru, are successfully operating a unique and large world-class radio antenna array for regular observations of the solar corona and magnetic field. The observations are carried out every day unlike the optical observations, where the solar corona can be observed from the ground only during a total solar eclipse. The radio observations are not affected by the clouds,' said Prof R Ramesh, senior professor at IIA. He is in charge of the institute's radio astronomy field station at Gauribidanur and is the principal investigator for the VELC instrument on board Aditya-L1, India's maiden space mission for dedicated observations of the Sun. 'The solar corona overlying the Sun's photosphere as well as present beyond its limb can be observed with a radio telescope. These are unique advantages of radio observations. The antennas used in the array are designed and fabricated in the Gauribidanur observatory workshop. The analog and digital receiver systems are also developed in-house using off-the-shelf components,' he added. While the measurement of the Sun's magnetic field at its visible surface (the photosphere) is routinely carried out with both ground and space-based observational facilities, regular measurements of the extension of the same magnetic field to the outer layers in the Sun's atmosphere like the chromosphere and corona are not there.
India Gazette
17-06-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
Union Minister Jitendra Singh convenes meeting of all science & technology institutes and reviews progress of institutes in Northeast
New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and MoS in the Prime Minister Office, Deptt. of Space and Atomic Energy chaired a high-level review meeting of all science and technology institutes operating in the Northeast, along with key departments of the Nagaland government, in Wokha district on Tuesday, said a statement from Ministry of Science & Technology. During the meeting, Dr Singh emphasised the recent breakthroughs achieved in the region due to an enabling ecosystem fostered by the Government's strong inclination towards science, technology and innovation. He reiterated the importance of not limiting scientific advancement to central areas but expanding it actively into peripheral and remote regions -- particularly the Northeastern states, which hold immense untapped potential. Dr. Singh highlighted the rich biodiversity of the region and identified agriculture and allied sectors, along with tourism and film production, as key focus areas for sustainable growth. Praising Wokha District, he noted its success under the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme with Banana cultivation, which has brought national recognition to the area. 'This model can be scaled to a larger commercial level, boosting the local economy while showcasing the region's unique strengths,' he said. He further shared that a 15-day nationwide saturation campaign for flagship government schemes is being launched, aimed at achieving maximum reach and inclusion. Reflecting on the transformative changes of the last decade, he pointed out that youth from Nagaland and Manipur are now actively recruited into aviation and hospitality industries, which was unthinkable earlier. 'In fact, the recent tragic air crash in Ahmedabad included two young girls from Manipur -- a solemn reminder of how far the region has come,' he said with emotion. Dr. Singh praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's consistent prioritisation of the Northeast, sharing that the PM has visited the region at least 70 times since 2014. 'His goal was to break both mental and physical barriers that distanced the region from the mainstream,' Singh remarked. He urged youth and women to take leadership roles. 'In the Northeast, women have always led -- from managing fish markets to running households. Now is the time to form self-help groups, generate livelihood, and build confidence,' he said. He recalled that women scientists led missions like Chandrayaan, Aditya-L1, and others -- adding that in the Northeast, the culture of women leadership is already embedded. Concluding the meeting, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that India's economic rise to the top three economies globally will be fuelled by unexplored and underexplored regions like the Northeast, aligning with the goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047. The meeting was attended by Nagaland MLA Dr Chumben Murry, Advisor to the Chief Minister, and senior officials from premier scientific institutions under the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, and Survey of India, among others. (ANI)
Time of India
16-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Stamp unveiled to mark 125 years of Indian Institute of Astrophysics' Kodaikanal solar observatory
Bengaluru: Honouring India's solar research legacy, the department of posts Friday released a commemorative stamp marking the 125th anniversary of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory , run by Bengaluru-headquartered Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA). The stamp was unveiled by former Isro chairman and IIA governing council chairperson AS Kiran Kumar, Karnataka chief post master general S Rajendra Kumar and IIA director Annapurni Subramaniam. The event highlighted the observatory's twin-domed structure. The right one houses a 6-inch telescope, first installed at Madras Observatory in 1850, remodelled in 1898, and relocated to Kodaikanal in 1900 by then director Michie Smith. The left dome's 8-inch telescope was shifted from Madras in 1930 and is now used for public outreach. "The stamp features a high-resolution H-alpha image of the Sun taken on May 6, 2024 at the observatory, along with an inset of 'butterfly diagram' on the logo, tracking sunspot activity from 1904 to 2020," IIA said in a release. "As a child, I collected stamps and first-day covers. Humanity has always strived to look beyond what the eye can see. Missions like Aditya-L1 continue the pursuit. IIA has upheld this legacy through its persistent solar observations. The 125 years of data collected by Kodaikanal Solar Observatory are invaluable for future astronomical research," Kiran Kumar said. — Sutapa Dey
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
ISRO's Aditya-L1 captures solar flare and plasma ejection, monitoring solar activity in near-ultraviolet light
Source: X Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently made an historic discovery from its Aditya-L1 mission , which was launched to monitor the Sun. ISRO posted a video shot by the mission on May 14, 2025, showing a solar flare and historic plasma ejection from the Sun. The discovery brings a much enhanced scale of data concerning solar activity, which will have bearing on predicting space weather events that influence Earth. ISRO's Aditya-L1 mission has added one more value to solar studies with its latest capture of a solar flare and plasma ejection. The milestone provides an unprecedented glimpse into the Sun's turbulent nature in near-ultraviolet light and provides new avenues for research on solar phenomena. While scientists analyse this data, the mission is poised to revolutionise our knowledge of space weather and how it affects the Earth. ISRO's Aditya-L1 captures X-class solar flare and plasma eruption Aditya-L1 took a picture of an X-class solar flare—a colossal explosion of energy from the Sun—on December 31, 2023. The burst was accompanied by the ejection of a glowing plasma "blob" that was hurled away from the Sun with terrific energy. It was a fertile source of information regarding the dynamic processes of the behaviour of the Sun. ISRO informed that Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) on board Aditya-L1 has captured the eruption in detail. ISRO highlighted this in its statement: "We see the early eruption and a plasma blob pushed out from the area of flaring and accelerated over the field of view of SUIT." Aditya-L1 observes record-breaking plasma ejection in near-ultraviolet light The plasma ejection observed by Aditya-L1 is significant not only because of the magnitude of the solar flare but also because of the wavelength at which the observation was made. To the world's best knowledge, an eruption of this kind has now been observed in near-ultraviolet light for the first time. This milestone presents the scientific community with an entirely new dataset with which to compare solar events and discover more about the nature of CMEs and solar flares. Of all the most amazing aspects of this achievement, perhaps the most surprising was the record-breaking speed at which the plasma mass was moving. The plasma was fired out at the initial rate of 300 kilometers per second but within seconds had shot up to a mind-boggling 1,500 kilometers per second. To better understand this, if it traveled at 1,500 km/s, the plasma would travel around the entire Earth in 30 seconds. This observation places into context the vast power and energy of solar events and provides valuable information for the understanding of the possible impact of solar phenomena on space weather. Aditya-L1's findings Aditya-L1 findings are of significant use to the forecasting community in terms of forecasting space weather events that can affect Earth. Solar flares and CMEs can lead to satellite communications disruption, navigation systems, and even the power systems of Earth. By knowing how such solar events behave and observing them in ultraviolet light, scientists are able to predict such potentially destructive events with greater accuracy. Aditya-L1 mission overview Aditya-L1, launched on 2 September 2023, is a mission to study the Sun's atmosphere and how it affects space weather. The spacecraft will be deployed in a single halo orbit at the Lagrange point 1 (L1) approximately 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. By being there, the mission is able to keep watch on the Sun unshaded by the Earth's shadow at all times. Aditya-L1 inserted into the designated orbit around L1 in January 2024, and as of February 2024 took a dramatic image of a big solar flare. But December 2023 is the month in which the new observation was seen, one historic: the near-ultraviolet capture of the first-ever giant solar eruption. Achievement of the Aditya-L1 mission Achievement of Aditya-L1 mission to capture this historic solar flare and plasma ejection confirms the worth of India's space exploration mission. It marks a new era for the study of the Sun as it displays much better how the Sun functions and how it affects our world. Achievement of the mission in viewing the Sun at 1.5 million kilometers has turned out to be pricelessly valuable in data gathering, which was never achievable from our world before. Also Read | South Africa's ground is rising, but it's not volcanic; here's what's really happening
United News of India
14-05-2025
- Science
- United News of India
SUIT Telescope on board Aditya-L1 observes Solar Flare, rare plasma ejection in UV light
Chennai, May 14 (UNI) ISRO on Wednesday announced that the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) onboard Aditya-L1 Mission observed powerful SolarFlare and a first of its kind Rare Plasma ejection in Ultra-Violet Light. On December 31, 2023, the Aditya-L1 mission witnessed the Sun unleashing an enormous solar flare (an X-class solar flare) that hurled a glowing plasma 'blob' off the sun. Cameras aboard the SUIT payload of Aditya-L1 watched the rare ejection of plasma blob move from a leisurely 300 km per second speed to a blistering speed of 1500 km per second- with this speed one can circle the entire earth in half a minute. This was for the first time; such an eruption is caught in near-ultraviolet light which offers scientist a new class of data sets to understand solar phenomena more deeply, ISRO said, in an update. Solar Flares are highly energetic explosions in the solar atmosphere. These are characterized as sudden, intense bursts of energy caused by the release of magnetic energy. During solar flares, a huge amount of radiation is emitted and energetic particles are ejected. These both impact the space weather and geo-space environment, including effects such as disruption in radio communication, power grid disturbances, satellite damage, risk to astronauts and flights etc. Considering the importance of solar flares for technology that is of day to day use, it is of paramount importance to develop a comprehensive understanding of their origin, evolution and properties, with the final aim of being able to predict them substantially in advance so that provisions may be made to shield communication satellites, power grids etc. Noting that Solar flares radiate across the complete electromagnetic spectrum, the Indian Space AGency said however, due to sparsity of observations in other wavelengths, they are primarily studied in the X-rays and extreme-ultraviolet, which are towards the higher energy of the electromagnetic spectrum, and to some extent in radio. However, very little is known about their properties in the Near Ultra-violet (NUV) and visible. To develop a comprehensive understanding of flares, it is necessary to, as a first step, develop the complete spectral energy distribution in flares, which can then be complemented with theoretical models, thereby helping us to derive mechanisms of flare and associated radiation. One of the science goals of the SUIT is to study solar flares in NUV wavelength range of 200-400 nanometers, using 11 different filters. The filters are carefully chosen in such a way that it covers the lower (photosphere) and middle (chromosphere) atmosphere of the Sun. "Such observations have never been made before. Therefore, these observations, for the first time, provide the inputs regarding flare radiation which has been missing to date", it said. The Aditya-L1 spacecraft was precisely launched into its intended orbit by PSLV C 57 launch vehicle of ISRO on September 2, 2023. After a series of complex Earth-bound maneuvers, the spacecraft was successfully placed in a large halo orbit around first Sun-Earth Lagrange Point (L1) on January 6, 2024. The first images from SUIT instrument were taken on December 6, 2023. Since then SUIT has gone through and successfully completed the verification and calibration process. From October 2024, SUIT is making regular science observations. The observation presented from 31st December, 2023 is from the initial cruise phase before L1 insertion of Aditya-L1 spacecraft. On the eve of the new year 2024 an X-class flare erupted at the east limb of the sun from the active region NOAA 13536 and peaked at 21:55 UT. The flare was also associated with a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) which exhibited a very high velocity 2852 km/s. The flare consisted of two eruptions. During the cruise phase, the onboard flare detection module was not turned on, and the flare was observed only in the Mg II h (280.3 nm, NB04) channel. SUIT observed a plasma blob getting ejected from the flaring region, which subsequently gets accelerated across the SUIT field of view. MORE UNI GV 1420
