Aditya-L1 detects uneven solar eruption to improve space weather forecasts
Scientists found that solar eruptions expand asymmetrically rather than in uniform spherical shapes, according to Business Today.
India’s first space-based solar observatory, Aditya-L1, has identified that powerful solar eruptions expand unevenly near the Sun, according to Business Today. The findings challenge the previous assumption that these events spread uniformly like spherical bubbles.
The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, examined a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed on August 5, 2024. Researchers found the eruption developed an asymmetric shape instead of spreading equally in all directions.
Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, used observations from the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) on Aditya-L1, images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and three-dimensional modelling to reconstruct the event. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated that a model assuming uniform expansion could not match the recorded patterns, whereas a model with a tilted structure and uneven expansion closely matched the data.
A CME is a burst of hot, magnetised plasma from the Sun’s corona that can affect satellites and communication networks if directed towards Earth. The asymmetric shape of a CME may influence its interaction with solar wind and its speed, which could make predicting arrival times at Earth more difficult.
The VELC instrument uses Doppler spectroscopy to measure shifts in light wavelengths to determine if plasma is moving towards or away from an observer. Researchers plan to apply this technique to more solar eruptions to test how reliably VELC can reconstruct their geometry and movement.
Launched in September 2023, Aditya-L1 operates near the Sun-Earth L1 point, about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.