🔗 Share this article

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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

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

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

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

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.