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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

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

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. 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, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, 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 expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.