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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

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

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

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

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.