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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up 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 each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking 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 that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.