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

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

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

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• 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 disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.