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

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.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs 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 – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

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

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.