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

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

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.