🔗 Share this article

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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.