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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.