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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

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

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.