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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

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

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

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