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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.