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Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt 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 reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.