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

Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

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

As per research, it comes roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.