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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, 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, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm 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 satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.