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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.