🔗 Share this article

For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues 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, scientists collaborated to study the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

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

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.