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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

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

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.