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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

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

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

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

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.