India's first space-based solar observatory, Aditya-L1, has helped scientists show for the first time that a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a massive eruption of plasma from the Sun — does not expand outward like a simple symmetric bubble, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a release on November 3. Instead, the eruption expanded unevenly and developed an asymmetric shape.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB), via Technology For You

The study, by scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology, was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The team combined spectroscopic data from Aditya-L1's Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) with images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and a three-dimensional geometric-kinematic model to reconstruct the full 3-D geometry and dynamics of the eruption.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)

The eruption studied occurred on August 5, 2024, from an active region near the Sun's western limb. VELC recorded an unusual Doppler pattern — emission shifted both blueward and redward — showing plasma moving towards and away from the observer at the same time. "We observed the CME that occurred on 5 August 2024 using the VELC as well as data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)," said Saurabh Tripathi, lead author of the study and a PhD student at IIA, according to the PIB release.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)

A symmetric-bubble model could not reproduce the observed spectral pattern. A model with an inclined CME axis and asymmetric lateral expansion matched it closely, co-author Jayant Joshi of IIA said. The finding builds on IIA's October work, when VELC produced the first Doppler velocity images of the solar corona — this study uses that capability to settle the three-dimensional shape of an eruption.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)

The shape matters beyond the Sun. "The asymmetric shape of an early CME can have important implications for how it interacts with the solar wind and experiences drag during its propagation through the heliosphere. Such effects can influence the CME's speed and, ultimately, its arrival time at Earth," Joshi said, according to the PIB release reported by NewKerala. Better arrival-time estimates help protect satellites, communications and power systems from space weather.

Source: NewKerala (ANI)

Aditya-L1 was launched in September 2023 and is now operational at the Sun-Earth L1 point, carrying seven payloads. VELC, its primary payload, was designed and fabricated by IIA at its MGK Menon Laboratory for Space Sciences on the CREST campus in Hosakote, with substantial support from ISRO.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)