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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 when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

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

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain 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 cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.