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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.