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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.