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

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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, 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 to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

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

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.