🔗 Share this article

Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose 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, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.