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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.