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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more 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 star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers 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. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.