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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

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