🔗 Share this article

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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South 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 frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers 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 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.