The Reason 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Solar Observation Mission

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

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

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.