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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic 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 eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – 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 – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.