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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms 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 reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.