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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel 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.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission 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.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.