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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship 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 used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.