For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.
This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.
As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.
This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.
Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.
"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."
Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.
CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.
"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.
"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."
With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.
There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.
"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.
Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.
Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.
In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.
It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.
At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.
Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.
The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.
"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.
"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.
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