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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.