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

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

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being 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."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, 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 Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information 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 totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.