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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately 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 of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.