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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

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

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

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