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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about 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 Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.