India’s Aditya-L1 Mission has successfully captured the Sun’s first-ever full-disk images, as announced by ISRO. These images, taken in near-ultraviolet wavelengths, offer groundbreaking insights into the intricate details of the Sun’s photosphere and chromosphere, according to a statement by ISRO on X, formerly Twitter.
The Aditya-L1 spacecraft’s Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) instrument was responsible for capturing these images within the 200-400 nm wavelength range. SUIT employs various scientific filters to capture images of the Sun’s photosphere and chromosphere.
The images revealed features such as sunspots, plage, and quiet Sun regions. SUIT’s observations are expected to aid scientists in studying the dynamic coupling of the magnetised solar atmosphere and provide valuable insights into the effects of solar radiation on Earth’s climate.
ISRO reported that the SUIT payload was powered on 20 November 2023. Following a successful pre-commissioning phase, the telescope captured its first light science images on 6 December 2023. The unprecedented images, taken using eleven different filters, include the first-ever full-disk representations of the Sun in wavelengths ranging from 200 to 400 nm, excluding Ca II h. Notably, observations in the Ca II h wavelength have been conducted by other observatories.
Aditya-L1, positioned at the Sun-earth Lagrangian point (L1), approximately 1.5 million km from Earth, is India’s inaugural space-based observatory dedicated to studying the Sun. Launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on 2 September, the spacecraft is in a halo orbit around L1, marking a significant milestone in solar research.
