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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.