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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert explains.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events 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 toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.