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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.