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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by 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.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to 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, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.