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For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency 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 a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.