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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.