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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire 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 a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"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 solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

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

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.