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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 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. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content 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 incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.