ISRO's Aditya-L1 payload HEL1OS captures first high-energy X-ray glimpse of solar flares

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HEL1OS, attached to Aditya-L1 spacecraft by ISRO for its maiden solar mission, captured the first high-energy X-ray glimpse of solar flares. In its update, ISRO on Tuesday noted that the spectrometer on board Aditya-L1 has recorded the impulsive phase of solar flares, during its first observation period from approximately October 29, 2023. A solar flare is a sudden brightening of the solar atmosphere.

Flares produce enhanced emission in all wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum - radio, optical, UV, soft X-rays, hard X-rays and gamma-rays. HEL1OS was commissioned on Oct 27, 2023 and it has been monitoring the Sun for hard X-ray activities ever since. The plot here is the X-ray light curve detected by HEL1OS of the Solar activity during ~ 12:00 to 22:00 UT on October 29, 2023, along with GOES X-ray light curves in the same interval for comparison.

The strongest event is the C6 class flare at 13:00 UT. The impulsive phase of the solar flare is evident in the HEL1OS light curve, distinguishable from the GOES observation by its short time duration and earlier peaking time, i.e the time at which "peak" or "maximum" X-rays in an energy range are detected. The HEL1OS light curve also shows evidence of a few impulsive events which are weak in the GOES light curve.

Detailed analysis of HEL1OS data will be able to tell whether or not any interesting evidence of electron acceleration is present in these weak GOES events. High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS), is the hard X-ray spectrometer on Aditya-L1 Solar Mission by ISRO, operating in the wide X-ray energy band of 10 – 150 keV. It is the harbinger of flaring activities on the Sun, with the ability to capture the early impulsive phase of the solar