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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia 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 in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track 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 Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.