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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events 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 path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.