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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.