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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar 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 disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

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

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.