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

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

As per scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

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

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

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

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.