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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight 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 explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.