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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.