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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 into space recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

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

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per 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 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing information gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

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, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.