🔗 Share this article

Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions 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 researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.