Latest news with #WageeshMishra
The Hindu
18-07-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
IIA team decodes reason behind May 2024 solar eruptions
Bengaluru Astronomers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have decoded the reasons behind the series of powerful solar eruptions or Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) that resulted in rare northern lights dancing across the Ladakh's night skies in May 2024. These findings offer a major step forward in the improvement of space weather forecasting models, particularly in predicting the impact of complex CME events on Earth's magnetosphere. CMEs are massive ejections of magnetised plasma from the Sun's corona. When such solar blasts are directed toward the Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms capable of disrupting satellite operations, communication systems, and power grids. According to the Department of Science and Technology, the great geomagnetic storm that started on 10 May, 2024, was linked to a rare sequence of six different CMEs erupting in succession, and it was associated with both solar flares and filament eruptions from an interacting complex active region on the Sun. Until now, gaining a complete understanding of how CMEs evolve thermodynamically as they travel from the Sun to Earth has remained challenging, primarily due to limited observations near the Sun as well as in near-Earth space. To bridge this gap, a team of solar astrophysicists led by Wageesh Mishra, a faculty member at IIA, used observations from the NASA and ESA space missions. They built a model to investigate the manner in which the rare chain of six interacting solar blasts reported from IIA's Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle in Ladakh interacted with each other and evolved thermally en route from the Sun to Earth. 'The study is the first of its kind, both in India and internationally, to capture the continuous thermodynamic evolution of multiple interacting CMEs across such a vast distance in the heliosphere,' said Dr. Mishra. 'Our analysis demonstrates that CME-CME interactions lead to significant thermal restructuring within. By the time they reach the Earth, the electrons in the complex ejecta were found to be in the heat-releasing state, while ions displayed a mix of heating and cooling behaviour, with the heating state being the dominant mode overall,' said Soumyaranjan Khuntia, the lead author and a doctoral scholar at IIA.
India Today
16-07-2025
- Science
- India Today
Auroras in Ladakh: Astronomers reveal how solar blast lit up Indian skies
In May 2024, the remote Himalayan skies over Ladakh were unexpectedly painted with a rare celestial display, northern lights, or auroras, typically only visible much closer to the over a year later, astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have unveiled the remarkable chain of events that triggered this rare spectacle: a record-breaking solar storm caused by six massive, interacting Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) erupting from the Sun in quick are enormous bubbles of magnetised plasma hurled from the Sun's outer atmosphere. When such solar eruptions are directed toward Earth, they can trigger intense geomagnetic storms, capable of disrupting satellites, communication systems, and even power grids. But the event of May 10, 2024, was unlike anything seen in the past two decades. 'This was a unique sequence of six interacting CMEs, associated with solar flares and filament eruptions, all originating from a hyperactive region on the Sun,' explained Dr. Wageesh Mishra, a faculty member at data from space-based observatories run by NASA and ESA, scientists at IIA's Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, Ladakh, developed advanced models to trace both the path and thermal behavior of these solar storms as they travelled across the solar study, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, provides the first continuous thermal profile of multiple interacting solar author and doctoral scholar Soumyaranjan Khuntia explained, 'Initially, the CMEs released heat, but as they travelled further, they began to absorb and retain heat, settling into a nearly constant temperature state—a surprising and complex behaviour.' Closer to Earth, instruments like NASA's Wind spacecraft detected another anomaly: the final solar cloud carried twin magnetic structures, or 'double flux ropes,' resembling twisted braids of magnetic fields. These interacted in unusual ways, giving rise to the captivating auroras seen in Ladakh.'This work lays the foundation for a new frontier in space weather forecasting,' added Anjali Agarwal, a co-author of the study. With India's Aditya-L1 solar mission now operational, the team hopes to further refine their models using close-range solar data and observations closer to to Dr. Mishra, 'India is well on its way to becoming a powerhouse in heliophysics research, helping us prepare for and predict future space weather disturbances that can affect Earth's technology and daily life.'- EndsTrending Reel
