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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

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

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"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, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.