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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.