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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

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

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.