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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.