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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines 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 flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.