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

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

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.