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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.