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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption 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 weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.