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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

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 Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

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