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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – 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 peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot 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 spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, 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 a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.