The Reason 2026 Is Set to Be a Year Like No Other for the Indian Sun Mission

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

It's the first time the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. 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 low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. 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 comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings 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.