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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

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

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.