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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection 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, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.