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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.