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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

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

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.