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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

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 storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.