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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey 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."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass 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 millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened 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 says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.