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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.