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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, 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 on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.