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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 observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.