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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions 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 effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.