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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to 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 swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.