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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth 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 Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

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

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.