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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 – that entered into space recently – can observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

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

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.