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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.