Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that the Aditya L1 mission captured a powerful solar storm that hit Earth on Saturday, leading to vibrant displays of color in the Northern Hemisphere skies.
ISRO mobilized all observation platforms and systems to document this geomagnetic storm, marking it as the most significant solar activity event in the past 20 years.
Both Aditya L1 and Chandrayaan-2 recorded and analyzed the event’s signatures. ISRO’s statement highlighted the collaborative efforts between the two missions.
The ASPEX payload on Aditya L1 recorded high-speed solar wind, high-temperature solar wind plasma, and an increased flux of energetic ions. The Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer (SWIS) captured the enhancement of alpha particles and proton flux.
Aditya L1’s SupraThermal and Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS) measured solar wind ions across seven energy ranges, noting a steady rise in energetic ion fluxes during the event.
The X-ray payloads SoLEXS and HEL1OS on Aditya L1 observed multiple X- and M-class flares. The in-situ magnetometer (MAG) also detected the events as they passed the L1 point.
Credit : ISRO
ISRO noted the storm’s magnitude, comparing it to the Carrington event of 1859. This storm is the strongest since 2003, based on the intensity of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Multiple X-class flares and CMEs affected high-latitude regions significantly, causing trans-polar flight diversions. ISRO predicts more solar events in the coming days.
The main impact occurred early on May 11, before the ionosphere was fully developed. Due to India’s lower latitudes, the country experienced minimal outages, unlike higher latitude regions.