🔗 Share this article

Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

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

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions 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 endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

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 near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.