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

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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert explains.

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in 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 with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.