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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections 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 two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.