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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge 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 almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.