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For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space last year – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.