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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.