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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.