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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

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

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

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

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

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

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

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.