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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.