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

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

As per research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.