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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

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 origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.