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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.