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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections 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
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

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

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent 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 scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun 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 learnings from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.