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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.