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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions 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 aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.