Why the Year 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Solar Observation Mission

Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

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

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others 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 solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

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

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.