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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

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