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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to 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.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles 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 can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

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