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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.