ISRO to launch Aditya-L1, the first space-based observatory to study Sun on Saturday

O's Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun will be launched on Saturday at 11.50 hrs from Sriharikota space station in Andhra Pradesh. In a tweet, ISRO informed that it will launch the PSLV-C57 for the Aditya L1 Mission.

The satellite will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point L1 of the Sun-Earth system which is about 1.5 million kms from the Earth. It will take around four months to reach the Lagrange point.

The advantage of a halo orbit around the L1 point is that the satellite can observe the solar activities without any obstruction by other celestial activities like eclipse.

Akashvani correspondent reports that after the success of Chandrayaan 3, ISRO has now taken up another ambitious Aditya L1mission. 

The Aditya L1 mission is to study the solar winds and the Sun’s atmosphere. It will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun namely the corona.

This will help understand the problems of coronal heating, Coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities, dynamics of weather, and the study of the propagation of particles and fields in the interplanetary medium. 

ISRO has invited the citizens to witness the launch of PSLV-C57 launch from the viewing gallery at Sriharikota by registering at their website