🔗 Share this article

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches 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 would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.