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Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase 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 coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.