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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among 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 secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.