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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

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

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt 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 of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information obtained from a major CMEs 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 struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The asteroid 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 even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights gained 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 adds.