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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking 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 researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.