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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out 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 Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

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 eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.