🔗 Share this article Why 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for the Indian Sun Mission A coronal mass ejection is several times larger than our planet Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be truly unique. This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle. According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places. This period marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona. Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance. "In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily." Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space. The aurora borealis illuminated the darkness across America in November Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed. "The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains. "However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites." Historical Solar Events The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for hours In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way. The Sun's corona can be seen when the Moon blocks the Sun from our perspective Aditya-L1's Special Capability There are other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona. "Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher. Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses. Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction. Preparation for Peak Period In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now. This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes. At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each. Although these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one. The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that. "I consider this eruption we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says. "The learnings gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.