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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.