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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

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

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

Composed of ionized 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 toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.