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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"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 of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.