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

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

As per scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.