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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.