🔗 Share this article

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

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

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.