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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space last year – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

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

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.