🔗 Share this article

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

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

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years as 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 changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.