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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity 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 electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs 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 standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.