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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 observatory – which was placed into space recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

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

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.