Chandrayaan-2: Detection of Solar Proton Events
Sakshi Education
- Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS)’ payload of Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter detected solar proton events recently.
- The Solar Proton Events significantly increase the radiation exposure to humans in space.
- CLASS Payload also recorded coronal mass ejections (CMEs), on January 18, 2022.
- Such multi-point observations help astronomers in understanding the propagation and its impact on different planetary systems.
- Coronal Mass Ejections are a powerful stream of ionised material and magnetic fields that reach the Earth a few days later. It led to geomagnetic storms and lighting up of polar sky with auroras.
- Solar flares are classified in accordance with their strength. The smallest ones are A-class, which is followed by B, C, M and X. Each letter represents a 10-time increase in energy output. Thus, M class flare is 10 times more intense than C-class flare while 100 times intense than B-class flare. Within each class, there is a finer scale ranging from 1 to 9. M2 flare is double the strength of M1 flare.
Published date : 26 Feb 2022 03:17PM