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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space recently – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.