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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays 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 aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking 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 solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

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

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us work out the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.