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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms 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 up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it 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," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

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

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