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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

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

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

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.