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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.