For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.
It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.
According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.
It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.
Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.
"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."
Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.
Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.
"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert explains.
"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."
With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.
There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.
"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.
In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists 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, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.
To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.
It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.
Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.
Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, 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, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.
"I consider the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.
"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.
