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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. 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, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions 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. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.