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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.