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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent 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 is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

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

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.