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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when 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 features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

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

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.