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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up 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 head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

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 origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, 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 lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.