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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features 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 ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, 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 immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.