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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated 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 arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.