🔗 Share this article

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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

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

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

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

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic 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," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon 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 how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.