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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 – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, 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, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.