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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

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

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability 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 shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.