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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features 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 ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.