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Regarding 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 watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.