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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.