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

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

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.