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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.