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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

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

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and features 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.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.