India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1 generates Doppler velocity images of the solar corona

ISRO's Solar Mission Aditya-L1 entering Halo Orbit. File | Photo Credit: ANI

Scientists have generated Doppler velocity images of activities taking place in the solar corona using data obtained with the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) payload onboard India’s maiden solar mission, Aditya-L1.

The Aditya-L1 satellite generates Doppler velocity images of the solar corona, and these images are expected to provide information on the propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) along the Sun-Earth direction, which has been unavailable to date.

What scientists say

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), who generated the Doppler velocity images, said it is well known that solar activity leads to the ejection of hot plasma.

They said that the massive and energetic plasma cloud ejected during powerful eruptions like the CMEs can travel either in the direction of the Earth or in any other direction from the Sun.