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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

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

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.