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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider 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 assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.