Pics clicked using 11 different filters: ISRO
Chennai, Dec 9:
The Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) instrument on board the Aditya-L1 spacecraft – India’s first sun exploratory mission – has successfully captured the first full disk images of the sun. The first full disk images were captured in the 200-400 nm wavelength range.
The SUIT captured images of the sun’s photosphere and chromosphere in this wavelength range using various scientific filters, ISRO said on Friday.
It said on November 20, the SUIT payload was powered on. Following a successful pre-commissioning phase, the telescope captured its first light science images on December 6..
These unprecedented images, taken using 11 different filters, include the first-ever full-disk representations of the sun in wavelengths ranging from 200 to 400 nm, excluding Ca II h. The full disk images of the sun in the Ca II h wavelength has been studied from other observatories.
Among the notable features revealed are sunspots, plage, and quiet Sun regions, as marked in the Mg II h image, providing scientists with pioneering insights into the intricate details of the Sun’s photosphere and chromosphere.
ISRO said SUIT observations will help scientists study the dynamic coupling of the magnetized solar atmosphere and assist them in placing tight constraints on the effects of solar radiation on Earth’s climate.
The development of SUIT involved a collaborative effort under the leadership of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. This collaboration included ISRO, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), the Centre for Excellence in Space Science Indian (CESSI) at IISER-Kolkata, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics Bengaluru, the Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO-PRL) and Tezpur University Assam.
Aditya-L1 is a satellite dedicated to the comprehensive study of the Sun. It has 7 distinct payloads developed, all developed indigenously – five by ISRO and two by Indian academic institutes in collaboration with ISRO.
The spacecraft has seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle detectors.
Using the special vantage point of L1, four payloads will directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads will carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1.
ISRO said the suit of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial information to understand the problems of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities, and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, study of the propagation of particles, fields in the interplanetary medium, etc.
