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For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic 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 in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.