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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, 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 Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.