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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 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, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.