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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

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

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger 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 through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.