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For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

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

Studying CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

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

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.