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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms 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 solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

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

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.