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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward 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.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

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

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, 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 lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

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

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.