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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.