Why 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Solar Observation Mission

Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space recently – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.