Burning Mysteries Of The Sun You Should Know As ISRO Launches Aditya-L1

After a historic landing on the South Pole of the moon with Chandrayaan-3, India successfully launched Aditya L-1, its maiden mission to the sun, on Saturday. Unlike the moon mission, it is obvious that the nation may have some difficulty sticking a landing on the blazing gas ball.

ISRO's Maiden Solar Mission

ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is aiming to park the Aditya L1 spacecraft in a spot that has been marked as the ¡°L1¡± point in space.

The spot is located at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. ISRO estimates that its spacecraft will achieve the milestone feat in about 4 months from its launch on Saturday, September 2.

Studying the sun is of paramount importance, as disturbances in the form of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, or solar winds can adversely affect and impact the space weather system and even cause changes in the environmental qualities of our planet.

Here are four mysteries about the centre of our solar system, the sun, you should be familiar with:

The Mystery Of The Corona?

Scientists still don¡¯t have much idea why the outermost atmosphere, known as the corona, is so much hotter than the sun¡¯s surface. It is estimated that the corona of the sun, which lies above the heat source, is 1,000 times hotter than the surface. There are also questions about why the Corona hangs onto this amount of heat.

The Mystery Of The Magnetic Field

Magnetic fields have been observed on the surface of the sun; they are called sunspots. These have also been found in the sun¡¯s atmosphere as coronal loops. However, scientists believe that these magnetic fields are likely generated in the interior.

The Mystery of The Sun¡¯s 11-Year Cycle

Sunspots and magnetic activity in the sun exhibit an 11-year cycle of waxing and waning. At the onset of the solar cycle, sunspots typically appear around mid-latitudes, but as the cycle progresses, they move progressively closer to the equator. The 11-year cycle may seem unusual, as surface features on the sun change on a much shorter timescale, fluctuating daily or so.

The Mystery Of The Sun¡¯s Superflares

Annually, substantial solar events result in billions of dollars in damages, leading to power outages, disruptions in communications, and electrical system malfunctions. A shift towards a space exploration programme that prioritises human presence on the Moon or Mars emphasises the heightened significance of these space weather consequences. These consequences are closely linked to magnetic fields, which arise when magnetic energy must be released due to the twisting and stretching of these fields.