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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites 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 when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.