Summary
On January 18, the instrument also detected a coronal mass ejection (CME), a powerful stream of ionized material and magnetic fields, and reaches Earth a few days later, ISRO said. This causes geomagnetic storms and produces light in the polar sky. ISRO said such multi-point observations help in understanding different planetary systems.
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A ‘Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer’ (Class) on board the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter has detected Solar Proton Events (SPEs), which significantly increase the radiation exposure to humans in space. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) gave this information on Wednesday.
On January 18, the instrument also detected a coronal mass ejection (CME), a powerful stream of ionized material and magnetic fields, and reaches Earth a few days later, ISRO said. This causes geomagnetic storms and produces light in the polar sky. ISRO said such multi-point observations help in understanding different planetary systems.
These energetic particles can cause massive ionization in Earth’s central atmosphere, the space agency said. Several intense solar flares are accompanied by a powerful stream of CMEs, ionized material and magnetic fields that reach Earth a few days later, causing geomagnetic storms and illuminating the polar sky with auroras.
ISRO said, ‘Solar flares are classified according to their strength. The smallest are the A-classes, followed by B, C, M and X. Each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. This means that the M-class flare is ten times more intense than the C-class flare and 100 times more intense than the B-class flare.’
Within each letter class there is a finer scale from 1 to 9 – an M2 flare is twice the strength of an M1 flare. Until recently, there were two M-class solar flares. One flare (M5.5) ejected energetic particles into interplanetary space and another flare (M1.5) accompanied a coronal mass ejection (CME), the space agency said.
NASA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) was observed in orbit around Earth during the SPE program. However, the CME event was not detected by GOES. The on-board Chandrayaan-2 orbiter of the Chandrayaan-2 ‘Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer’ (class) detected SPE due to the M5.5 class solar flare that occurred on January 20, 2022, ISRO said. It added that the CLASS instrument also detected the CME event as it passed through the Moon caused by the M1.5 class solar flare that occurred on January 18.
ISRO said that the CME travels at a speed of about 1000 km/s and it takes about 2-3 days to reach the Earth. However, the GOES satellite failed to capture this event, as the Earth’s magnetic field shields such events. However, this event was recorded by Chandrayaan-2.
The class payload of Chandrayaan-2 saw both SPE and CME events passing through two intense flares on the Sun. Chandrayaan-2 was planned to land on the South Pole of the Moon. Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019.
Expansion
A ‘Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer’ (Class) on board the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter has detected Solar Proton Events (SPEs), which significantly increase the radiation exposure to humans in space. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) gave this information on Wednesday.
On January 18, the instrument also detected a coronal mass ejection (CME), a powerful stream of ionized material and magnetic fields, and reaches Earth a few days later, ISRO said. This causes geomagnetic storms and produces light in the polar sky. ISRO said such multi-point observations help in understanding different planetary systems.
These energetic particles can cause massive ionization in Earth’s central atmosphere, the space agency said. Several intense solar flares are accompanied by a powerful stream of CMEs, ionized material and magnetic fields that reach Earth a few days later, causing geomagnetic storms and illuminating the polar sky with auroras.
ISRO said, ‘Solar flares are classified according to their strength. The smallest are the A-classes, followed by B, C, M and X. Each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. This means that the M-class flare is ten times more intense than the C-class flare and 100 times more intense than the B-class flare.’
Within each letter class there is a finer scale from 1 to 9 – an M2 flare is twice the strength of an M1 flare. Until recently, there were two M-class solar flares. One flare (M5.5) ejected energetic particles into interplanetary space and another flare (M1.5) accompanied a coronal mass ejection (CME), the space agency said.
NASA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) was observed in orbit around Earth during the SPE program. However, the CME event was not detected by GOES. The on-board Chandrayaan-2 orbiter of the Chandrayaan-2 ‘Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer’ (class) detected SPE due to the M5.5 class solar flare that occurred on January 20, 2022, ISRO said. It added that the CLASS instrument also detected the CME event as it passed through the Moon caused by the M1.5 class solar flare that occurred on January 18.
ISRO said that the CME travels at a speed of about 1000 km/s and it takes about 2-3 days to reach the Earth. However, the GOES satellite failed to capture this event, as the Earth’s magnetic field shields such events. However, this event was recorded by Chandrayaan-2.
The class payload of Chandrayaan-2 saw both SPE and CME events passing through two intense flares on the Sun. Chandrayaan-2 was planned to land on the South Pole of the Moon. Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019.