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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

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

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does 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 that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods 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 developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.