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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency 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 can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will help us developing protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.