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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.