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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

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

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.