🔗 Share this article

Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.