Why Sun study, just a inquisitive mission: It is the dynamic nearest star, can know about stars

Chennai, Sep 1 : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

which is gearing up for its first Solar exploratory mission to study the

dynamic sun with the planned Aditya-L1 satellite using PSLV in the

coming days, said the study of the sun was to know about stars in

various other galaxies.

ISRO said the sun is the nearest star and therefore can be studied in much

more detail as compared to other stars.

“By studying the sun we can learn much more about stars in our Milky Way

as well as about stars in various other galaxies”, it said.

“The sun is a very dynamic star that extends much beyond what we see. It

shows several eruptive phenomena and releases immense amount of energy

in the solar system. If such explosive solar phenomena is directed towards

the earth, it could cause various types of disturbances in the near earth space

environment”, it said.

It said various spacecraft and communication systems are prone to such

disturbances and therefore an early warning of such events is important

for taking corrective measures beforehand. In addition to these, if an

astronaut is directly exposed to such explosive phenomena, he/she would

be in danger. The various thermal and magnetic phenomena on the sun are

of extreme nature.

Thus, the sun also provides a good natural laboratory to understand those

phenomena which could not be directly studied in the lab.