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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.