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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing 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 – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

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

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.