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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others 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 Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.