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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot 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 switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.