Aditya-L1: India's solar mission has reached its final destination.

On Saturday, Aditya-L1 reached a point in space where it could continuously observe the Sun. The spacecraft has been heading toward the Sun for four months since it was launched on September 2.

Space agency Isro launched the spacecraft days after India created history by becoming the first to land on the South Pole of the Moon. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the mission a "landmark" and a "special achievement".

India's first space mission to explore the largest object in the solar system is named after the Hindu sun god Surya, also known as Aditya. L1 represents Lagrange point 1, the exact location between the Sun and Earth where the spacecraft has just arrived.

According to the European Space Agency, a Lagrange point is the point where the gravity of two large objects, such as the Sun and Earth, cancel each other out, causing the spacecraft to "float". L1 is located 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) from Earth, which is 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.

The final work to place Aditya into the L1 orbit took place around 4:00 pm India time (10:30 GMT), the Times of India reported. ISRO Director General S Somanath previously told the BBC that the agency would perform several maneuvers to keep the spacecraft in orbit and occasionally in place.

Once Aditya-L1 reaches this 'park', it will be able to orbit the Sun at the same speed as Earth. From this position, he can continuously observe the Sun and conduct scientific research even during eclipses and occultations.

There are seven science instruments in orbit to observe and study the solar corona (outermost layer). The photosphere (the surface of the Sun or the visible part of the Earth) and the chromosphere (the thin layer of plasma between the photosphere and the corona).

After launch on September 2, the spacecraft circled the Earth four times and exited Earth orbit on September 30. In early October, Isro said it had made minor adjustments to the orbit to help it reach its final destination. The agency said some equipment aboard the ship had begun collecting data and taking photos.

A few days after the launch, Isro shared the first images sent from the mission. One is an image showing the Earth and Moon in a frame, and the other is a "selfie" image showing two scientific instruments. Last month, the agency released the first disk image of the Sun at wavelengths between 200 and 400 nanometers, saying it "provides insight into the complex details of the Sun's photosphere and chromosphere."

Scientists say the mission will help understand solar activity, such as solar winds and solar flares, and their real-time impact on near-Earth and space weather. Radiation, heat, particles, and magnetic fields from the sun continually affect Earth's weather. They also influence space weather, which has about 7,800 satellites, including more than 50 in India.

Scientists say Aditya could help them better understand solar winds or explosions days in advance, and could even provide warnings to India and other countries to protect their satellites from damage.

Isro did not provide details on the cost of the mission, but Indian media estimated it at 3.78 billion rupees ($46 million, £36 million). The success of Saturday's mission means India will join an elite group of countries exploring the sun.

The US space agency NASA has been observing the sun since the 1960s. Japan launched its first solar probe in 1981, and the European Space Agency (ESA) has been observing the sun since the 1990s. In February 2020, NASA and ESA jointly launched the Solar Orbiter. Solar Orbiter will observe the Sun in detail and collect data that scientists say will help understand what drives the Sun's dynamic behavior.

And in 2021, NASA's newest Parker Solar Probe spacecraft made history as the first astronaut to fly through the corona and into the Sun's outer atmosphere.