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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase 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 may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity 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.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

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