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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.