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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• 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 Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

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

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.