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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.