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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight 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 was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

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