The Reason the Year 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Solar Observation Mission

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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.