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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – 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.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among 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 solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona 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 and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.