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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

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 – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about 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.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.