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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up 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 toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

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 is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.