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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

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

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens 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, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.