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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

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 per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.