With the Aditya L1 satellite stationed at key sites, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has given extensive observations of the massive solar storm that struck Earth on May 11, 2024.
This extraordinary geomagnetic storm on Earth was triggered by the Sun's active area AR13664, one of the colossal sunspots in documented history, unleashing a barrage of intense X-class and M-class flares associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on May 8–9, a truly awe-inspiring event.
India was among the places in the world where auroras were caused by the storm that struck Earth's magnetic field. Isro's Aditya-L1 spacecraft, located at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point, played an important part in recording this event. Its in-situ payloads, ASPEX and MAG, saw the storm's fingerprints when it moved over L1 on May 10-11. Its remote sensing payloads, SoLEXS and HEL1OS, captured the X-class and M-class flares between May 8–9.
Isro's lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-2, also made essential observations from its unique location orbiting the Moon. Its Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) observed an increase in the local high-energy particle environment in addition to the X-rays from the solar flares.
On May 14, the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) and Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) of Aditya-L1 commenced observations following the completion of calibration and baking procedures. As the Sun gets closer to the solar maximum, magnetically active regions that potentially produce massive flares can be seen on the solar disc where SUIT's narrow band imaging revealed bright, active regions.
