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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly 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 of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, 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, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.