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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.