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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South 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 frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

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

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.