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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

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

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

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

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

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.