The Reason the Year 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Solar Observation Mission

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

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

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

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 switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 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, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

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