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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the frequency 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 up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.