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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

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 – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power 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 to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.