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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when 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 sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions 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 can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine 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, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.