🔗 Share this article The Reason the Year 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Sun Mission A coronal mass ejection is much bigger than Earth Regarding India's first solar observatory, 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 the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle. According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions. It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona. Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun. "In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day." Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit. Northern lights illuminated the darkness across America last autumn Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit. "The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies. "However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites." Past Solar Events The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European airports Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way. The Sun's corona can be seen when the Moon blocks the Sun from Earth The Mission's Unique Advantage While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona. "Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher. Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses. Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction. Preparation for Maximum Activity To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently. This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes. At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each. Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one. The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs carrying power matching even more than that. "I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states. "The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.