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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 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 two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.