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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, 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 and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.