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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic 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 eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.