🔗 Share this article

For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.