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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.