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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.