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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together 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 struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.