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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 last year – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase 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 of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

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

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.