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

Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

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

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

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 travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.