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

Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space recently – can watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft 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 the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.