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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent 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 of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing information obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.