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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day 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. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content 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 standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.