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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

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

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.