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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.