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Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition 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 erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.