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For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.