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Regarding 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 last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.