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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.