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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.