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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.