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CMEs Identification in Inner Solar Corona

Posted on April 2, 2021 by admin1  154

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Recently, researchers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital and the Royal Observatory of Belgium have developed CMEs Identification in Inner Solar Corona (CIISCO).

  • ARIES is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

About CIISCO

  • It is an algorithm that will detect and track the accelerating Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) in the lower corona (outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere)
    • CMEs cause various disturbances to the space environment like disrupting space weather and causing geomagnetic storms, satellite failures and power outages.
    • Therefore, forecasting their arrival time is very important.
  • CIISCO has been successfully tested on several eruptions observed by space observatories, including,
    • Solar Dynamics Observatory and Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
    • PROBA2/SWAP launched by the European Space Agency (ESA)
  • Significance: An implementation of CIISCO on the large volume of data available from space observatories will be helpful to improve the understanding of eruptions in the inner corona, a region where the properties of such eruptions are less known.
  • Other Applications: It will be used in India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1.

Earlier Forecasting Method

  • Computer-Aided CME Tracking Software (CACTus): It is a software, based on a computer vision algorithm that was so far used to detect and characterise such eruptions automatically in the outer corona.
  • Challenges
    • CACTus could not be applied to the inner corona observations due to the vast acceleration experienced by these eruptions and severely limited the capability to track them.
    • Moreover, with the advancement in space technology, there has been a tremendous increase in the amount of data and manual tracking and identification of solar eruptions is a tedious process.
    • Limited CME observations in interplanetary space hinder forecasting accuracy.

Coronal Mass Ejections

  • They are powerful eruptions near the surface of the sun, driven by kinks (disturbances) in the solar magnetic field and the resulting shocks ripple through the solar system.
  • During a CME, enormous bubbles of superheated gas, called plasma, are ejected from the sun and accelerated to speeds of 1.6 million kilometers per hour.
  • The underlying cause of CMEs is not well understood but it has been agreed by astronomers that the sun’s magnetic field plays a major role.
  • The onslaught of charged particles and the temporary restructuring of the Earth’s magnetic field has observable effects.
    • Auroral lights, usually only seen near the poles, can drift to lower latitudes and become more brilliant.
    • It can also expose Earth to deadly cosmic rays and the astronauts in space may receive lethal doses of radiation.
    • It has the potential to severely disrupt power grids, satellites, communication networks, that is, anything that uses electricity.

                                                 (Image Source: SocraticQ&A)

Aditya-L1

  • It is India’s first dedicated scientific mission to study the Sun.
  • Orbit: It will be inserted in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is 1.5 million km from the Earth.
    • It will have the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.
  • Payloads: Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) and additional six payloads.
  • Launch Vehicle: PSLV-XL from Sriharikota, India.
  • Significance
    • Under the mission, the study of the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares and CMEs will be conducted.
    • Its studies will enhance the current understanding of the Solar Corona and also provide vital data for space weather studies.

Source: Tribune India

 
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