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

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

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

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.