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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

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

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.