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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – 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 scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition 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.

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

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

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

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.