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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major 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 – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.