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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once 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 sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features 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.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide 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 – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.