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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.