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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

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

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing 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 blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

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

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.