🔗 Share this article

Regarding 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 our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

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

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

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.