The Reason 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for the Indian Solar Observation Mission

For India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

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

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.