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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency 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 coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards 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 emits two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.