Why 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for India's Solar Observation Mission

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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees 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 may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles 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 vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.