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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

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

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.