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

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

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees 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 fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.