After becoming the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon, India is setting its sights on a brighter target. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will soon launch its first solar observatory, on a mission to investigate some pressing sun mysteries.
The spacecraft, Aditya-L1, is scheduled to launch atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Saturday (Sept. 2) at 2:20 a.m. EDT (0620 GMT) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. You can watch it here on Space.com, courtesy of ISRO.
The launch will send Aditya-L1 into low-Earth orbit. The probe will then engage its propulsion system and head to the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1 (hence the L1 part of the mission’s name; “Aditya” means “sun” in Sanskrit), a gravitationally stable about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet. From there, Aditya-L1 will be able to study the sun without interference from eclipses or occultations.
An illustration shows India’s Aditya-L1 spacecraft studying the sun. (Image credit: IRSO/ Robert Lea/)
The mission has many scientific objectives. Its seven instruments are designed to observe the sun’s atmosphere, its surface (known as the photosphere) and the magnetic fields and particles around our star and closer to home.
One of the most intense regions of study for Aditya-L1 will be the sun’s upper atmosphere, home to one of the most longstanding and troubling mysteries in solar science — the coronal heating problem.
Investigating the sun’s hottest mystery
The corona, made of wispy and nebulous plasma, is of particular interest to solar scientists because of how hot it is. That might sound like a given. After all, we are talking about the atmosphere of the sun here.
The issue is that the corona is too hot. It’s hotter than the solar surface — far, far hotter. The temperature of the corona can reach 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 million degrees Celsius), according to NASA. The photosphere, around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) below it, has an average temperature of around 10,000 degrees F (5,500 degrees C), meaning the sun’s outer atmosphere is about 200 times hotter than its surface!
The sun during a total eclipse when the photosphere is obscured by the moon and the corona becomes visible (Image credit: ESO/P. Horálek)
To see why this is so puzzling, imagine a slightly less “out there” example. During a camping trip, you light a campfire, and as you are toasting marshmallows, you notice that the treats roast faster when you hold them farther from the fire. You check and indeed find that the air farther away from the campfire is hotter than the air closer to it. That’s akin to what is happening with the corona.
The vast majority of the sun’s heat comes from the nuclear fusion at its core. So, temperatures should increase moving toward the heart of our star. And the layers of the sun do conform to this prediction — except for the corona, and scientists are desperate to know why.
Studying the corona is difficult to do here on Earth because photons — particles of light — from the sun’s surface dominate and “wash out” those from the outer atmosphere.
The best way to see the corona from Earth is to wait for a total solar eclipse, when the disk of the moon obscures the photosphere and the wispy corona is no longer overpowered. Alternatively, solar scientists can use an instrument called a coronagraph, which attaches to a telescope and replicates this effect.
Aditya-L1 will carry such an instrument, called the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC). The ISRO probe will also take ultraviolet images of the corona and photosphere using its Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT).
Aditya-L1 will do more than just investigate the coronal heating mystery. The probe will also look at solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), powerful events that can affect life here on Earth.
The indian Space Research Organisation Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying the Aditya-L1 sun observatory rolls out to its launch pad for a Sept. 2, 2023 launch. (Image credit: ISRO)
CMEs are huge clouds of solar plasma blasted into space when the sun’s magnetic field lines become twisted and then “snap back” into realignment, a process called magnetic reconnection.
This usually occurs in regions of the sun that are particularly active, something that can be indicated by the presence of sunspots. Sunspots, also known as active regions, can also give rise to solar flares, which are bursts of electromagnetic radiation that often accompany CMEs but can also occur independently.
Magnetic reconnection hurls out solar plasma at speeds as great as 7 million mph (11 million kph) — around 4,500 times faster than the top speed of a jet fighter. Aditya-L1 will look for the mechanisms that drive these solar phenomena, hunting for processes in the corona and in deeper layers of the sun.
Additionally, the spacecraft will look at these events after they have traveled away from the sun.
CMEs directed at Earth can reach our planet in as little as 15 to 18 hours, with slower clouds often taking days to reach us.
Aditya-L1 will study how this plasma changes during its journey from the sun to Earth. It will also make in-situ measurements of the plasma environment close to our planet, using its Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) and the Plasma Analyser Package For Aditya (PAPA).
A giant coronal mass ejection burst from the sun toward Venus on Monday (Sept. 5) 2022. (Image credit: NASA/STEREO)
The charged particles blasted out by Earth-directed CMEs are channeled down our planet’s magnetic field lines. They then collide with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in Earth’s upper atmosphere, creating dazzling light shows called auroras over our planet’s poles. But CMEs can also create space weather conditions around Earth that aren’t quite so pleasing.
For example, the eruptions can spark powerful geomagnetic storms, which can affect satellites and even communication and power infrastructure here on Earth. So it’s vital to understand space weather and the plasma environment of Earth, scientists say. Also important is the understanding of magnetic fields around our planet, which Aditya-L1 will study using its Advanced Tri-axial High-Resolution Digital Magnetometer instrument.
By observing the sun in certain wavelengths of light, scientists can see different features on the star’s surface, like these coronal loops or flux ropes that carry hot material up off the surface. (Image credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory)
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Other sun puzzles for Aditya-L1
Aditya-L1 will also examine coronal loops, massive hoops of plasma that happen when the curved arc of a magnetic field reaches out of the photosphere and channels plasma through it.
These loops extend out for thousands of miles, making the sun appear like a massive, messy ball of plasma yarn.
Coronal loops appear to be connected to sunspots; the loops tend to stretch from one of these dark patches on the sun and terminate at another. Scientists aren’t quite sure what the three-dimensional structure of coronal loops is. Some recent research suggests they don’t balloon out as much as they should at high altitudes, indicating that some coronal loops could actually be 2D illusions.
Aditya-L1 will take diagnostics of coronal loops and the plasma that comprises them, measuring their temperature, velocity and density. The spacecraft will also examine the dynamics of the sun’s magnetic field that guide coronal loops.
The probe’s launch follows shortly on the heels of the successful touchdown of India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which last week aced the first-ever soft landing near the moon’s south pole.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
