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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 – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire 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 of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface 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 geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.