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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

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

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency 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 a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching 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 the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – 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 – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.