🔗 Share this article

Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.