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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.