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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

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

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique 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 toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.