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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all 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, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.