Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) on-board Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter detected Solar Proton Events or SPEs due to an M5.5 class solar flare that occurred on January 20, 2022.
- CLASS payload on Chandrayaan-2 saw both the SPE (Solar Proton Events) and CME events pass by from two intense flares on the Sun.
Solar Proton Events or SPEs
- When Sun is active, spectacular eruptions called solar flares occur that sometimes also spew out energetic particles (called Solar Proton Events or SPEs) into interplanetary space.
- Most of these are high energy protons that impact space systems and significantly increase radiation exposure to humans in space. They can cause ionisation on large scales in Earth’s middle atmosphere.
What are Solar flares?
- A solar flare is an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are our solar system’s largest explosive events.
- Solar flares are classified according to their strength. The smallest ones are A-class, followed by B, C, M and X.
- Each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. This means that an M class flare is ten times intense than C-class flare and 100 times intense than B-class flare. Within each letter class there is a finer scale from 1 to 9 i.e a M2 flare is twice the strength of M1 flare.
Coronal mass ejections (CME)
- The outer solar atmosphere, the corona, is structured by strong magnetic fields. Where these fields are closed, often above sunspot groups, the confined solar atmosphere can suddenly and violently release bubbles of gas and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejections.
About Chandrayaan-2
- Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019. Its lander Vikram hard-landed on September 7, 2019, which shattered India’s dream to become the first nation to successfully land on the lunar surface in its first attempt.
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