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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as 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, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.