Watch: Aditya-L1 takes a selfie; ISRO shares fresh images of Earth and Moon

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has just shared fresh images taken by Aditya-L1. As a part of ISRO’s solar mission, Aditya-L1 is scheduled to reach the Sun-Earth L1 point. It has now taken a selfie. It has also captured images of the Earth and the Moon, as shared by ISRO on X (formerly Twitter).

India's first space mission to study the Sun is called Aditya L1. It will reach a point 1.5 million km away from Earth to a special spot known as Lagrange point 1 (L1). Being at this point lets the spacecraft always see the Sun without any interruptions like eclipses. This will help ISRO better understand what the Sun is doing and how it affects space weather in real-time.

The spacecraft carried seven special tools for different studies. These tools will look at various layers of the Sun and measure different things like electromagnetic fields and particles.

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Four of these tools will focus directly on the Sun, while the other three will study particles and fields around the L1 point. This will give us valuable data on how changes in the Sun affect the space around it.

Aditya-L1 mission goals

The Aditya-L1 mission has a series of ambitious goals centred around studying the Sun. One of its primary objectives is to closely examine the upper layers of the Sun, known as the chromosphere and the corona. By doing so, scientists aim to gain a better understanding of how these layers behave and interact with each other.

Another critical aspect of the mission is to delve into what heats these upper layers and triggers solar phenomena like flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). 

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The mission plans to look into the physics behind these high-energy events and the partially ionized plasma that resides in the Sun's outer layers. This will also involve collecting valuable data on particles near the Sun, to further our understanding of their dynamics.

In addition to these, the mission is set to focus on the science of the solar corona's heating mechanism. Scientists will make measurements to determine the temperature, velocity, and density of the plasma in the corona and its loop-like structures. These measurements will provide a clearer picture of how CMEs develop, originate, and affect space weather.

Finally, the mission aims to unravel the sequence of events across multiple layers of the Sun—such as the chromosphere, the base, and the extended corona—that lead to solar eruptive phenomena. It also plans to map the magnetic fields in the Sun's corona to better understand their topology. 

This could provide critical insights into the origins, composition, and dynamics of solar winds, which are key drivers of space weather.