🔗 Share this article

Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

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

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.