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

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

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.