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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"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.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.