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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat 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 and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.