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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

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

According to scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph 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 around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information obtained 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 was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained 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.