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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered 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 totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.