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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – can 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 – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, 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," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship 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 – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.