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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

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

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.