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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 into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs 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 struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.