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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot 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 and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.