🔗 Share this article

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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's 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 storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding 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 almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

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

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – 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 TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.