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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection 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 our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as 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.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.