🔗 Share this article

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

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

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.