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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

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

Although these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.