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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase 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 coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.