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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

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

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.