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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels 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 each.

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

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.