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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

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

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.