🔗 Share this article

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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began 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.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.