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

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

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

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

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.