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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something 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 thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

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

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.