The Sun has been working, and we can finally confirm why. NASA has announced that our host star is officially in the middle of the most active period of its cycle, making the stormy weather last into next year.
On Tuesday, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the International Solar Cycle Prediction Panel confirmed that the Sun is at its peak, a period of increased solar activity that often affects Earth. The Sun goes through an 11-year cycle in which its magnetic poles switch every decade, causing it to transition from being a quiet, calm star to releasing fiery streams of charged particles into its orbit.
A team of scientists at NASA and NOAA determined that the last two years are part of the Sun’s active phase of its current solar cycle, and that the star’s solar mass will last another year or so before its activity begins to decline.
If we look at the behavior of the Sun in the past few months, scientists have already guessed that this star is in a period of increased activity. In May, Earth was hit by the largest geomagnetic storm in two decades after the Sun hurled a barrage of high-energy particles at our planet. A few months later, another powerful geomagnetic storm caught scientists off guard, resulting in bright, multi-colored aurorae in various parts of the world in August. Recently, the Sun released another explosion of objects towards us, which led to a powerful geomagnetic storm on October 11.
The latest storm was preceded by the most intense solar flare of the Sun’s current cycle, Cycle 25, when the sunspots area delivered a flare of X.90. Solar flares, large bursts of electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, are classified by their intensity, starting from B-class, which is the weakest, to the strongest, X-class.
Solar flares often occur near sunspots, dotted areas on the Sun’s surface that show the convergence of magnetic field lines. Scientists use sunspots to measure activity on the Sun, determining the progress of its solar cycle.
“During the peak of the sun, the number of sunspots, therefore, the number of solar activities increases,” said Jamie Favors, director of NASA’s Space Weather Program, in a statement. “This increase in activity provides an exciting opportunity to study our nearest star – but it also has real consequences for Earth and our entire solar system.”
Earth could be on the verge of receiving the wrath of the Sun. Increased solar activity affects space weather, which in turn disrupts astronauts and satellites in space, communication and navigation systems such as radio and GPS, and electrical grids on Earth, according to NASA.
A recent announcement by NASA also warned that the Sun is not done with us. “This announcement does not mean that this is the maximum amount of solar activity we will see this solar cycle,” Elsayed Talaat, director of space weather operations at NOAA, said in a statement. “Although the Sun has reached the maximum solar period, the month in which the solar activity reaches the maximum of the Sun will not be identified for months or years.”
NOAA is expecting many solar and geomagnetic storms during the current maximum solar cycle of Cycle 25, which may lead to beautiful aurorae, but also some disruption to our precious technology.
Compared to other solar cycles, Cycle 25 works in an unusual way. The Sun has developed the largest number of sunspots since 2002, according to NOAA. “Solar Cycle 25 sunspot activity slightly exceeded expectations,” Lisa Upton, chair of the Solar Cycle Prediction Panel and lead scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said in a statement. “However, despite seeing a few major storms, none are larger than we would expect during the upper part of the cycle.”
We haven’t seen the last of Cycle 25 yet, so be warned but also enjoy the beautiful colors in the sky.
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