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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.