🔗 Share this article

For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.