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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

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

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.