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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

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

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star 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 erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.