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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch 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 would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important 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, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events 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 advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in 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 and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

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

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.