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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise 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 coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

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

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able 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, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.