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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – 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 significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.