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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

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

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

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

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.