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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.