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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time 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) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

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

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.