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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 – that entered into space last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"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 around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.