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

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

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged 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, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

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

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.