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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

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

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

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.