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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 spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

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