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

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

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.