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

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

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, 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," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.