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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 into space recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.