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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once 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 our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.