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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.