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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME 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 the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.