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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 into space recently – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption 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 a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.