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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – can watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering 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.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

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

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.