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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.