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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.