🔗 Share this article

For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.