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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

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

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.