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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles 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 vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

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

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.