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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.