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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying 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 Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.