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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.