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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by 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 coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.