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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.