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For 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 last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, 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 coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard 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 be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.