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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.