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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly 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 changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.