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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, 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, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.