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For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

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

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data 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 – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.