Why the Year 2026 Is Set to Be a Year Like No Other for the Indian Solar Observation Mission

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – can watch our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.