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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

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

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.