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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat 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 Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

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

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.