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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

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

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.