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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

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

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.