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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 spacecraft – that entered into space last year – can watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.