🔗 Share this article

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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately 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 sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source 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 Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated 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.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.