🔗 Share this article The Reason 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for India's Sun Mission A massive solar eruption can be much bigger than our planet Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other. It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit recently – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle. As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places. This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona. Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun. "During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily." Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit. Northern lights illuminated the darkness across America in November Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed. "The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist explains. "But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites." Historical Solar Incidents The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way. The solar atmosphere can be seen when the Moon blocks the Sun from our perspective The Mission's Unique Advantage There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona. "The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert. 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. Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth. Preparation for Maximum Activity In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently. It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes. At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each. Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event. The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels. "In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he states. "The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.