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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 – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.