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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up 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 head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, 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 and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

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

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

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

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will help us work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.