🔗 Share this article

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.