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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.