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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest 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, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.