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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.