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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.