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

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

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.