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

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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered into space last year – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

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

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions 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 lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

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

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.