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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh 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, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting 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, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

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

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.