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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per 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 sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest 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 sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.