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

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

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

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues 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 to study the data gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.