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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

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 head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites 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 track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission 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 sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.