🔗 Share this article

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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

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

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.