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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.