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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life 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 the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.