Jan. 10, 2022: Solar Cycle 25 is heating up. New sunspot counts from NOAA confirm that the young solar cycle is outrunning the official forecast. You are here: Actual sunspot counts have now exceeded predictions for 15 straight months. The monthly value at the end of December 2021 was more than twice the forecast, and … Continue reading Solar Cycle 25 Update
Feb. 4, 2022: For much of the past year, the space weather community has been buzzing about the strong performance of young Solar Cycle 25 (SC25). Every month, sunspot numbers seem to blow past official predictions. This means we’re about to have a strong Solar Maximum, right? “Not so fast,” cautions Dr. Ron Turner, an … Continue reading Solar Cycle 25–A Different Point of View
July 3, 2021: Now, Solar Cycle 25 has really begun. On July 3rd, new sunspot AR2838 produced the first X-class solar flare since Sept. 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash: A pulse of X-rays ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean: blackout map. … Continue reading First X-flare of Solar Cycle 25
Oct. 25, 2023 (Spaceweather.com): When Solar Cycle 25 began in 2020, leading forecasters thought it would be weak and slow to develop. Fast forward three years: NOAA is now predicting a quicker, stronger solar cycle. The revised forecast, published yesterday, shows Solar Max coming sometime between January and October 2024: NOAA’s original prediction for Solar … Continue reading NOAA Predicts a Quicker, Stronger Solar Max
July 2, 2023: The sun is partying like it’s 2002. That’s the last time sunspot counts were as high as they are now. The monthly average sunspot number for June 2023 was 163, according to the Royal Observatory of Belgium’s Solar Influences Data Analysis Center. This eclipses every month since Sept. 2002: Solar Cycle 25 … Continue reading Sunspot Counts Hit 21-Year High
Feb. 1, 2023: In a continued sign of strength for Solar Cycle 25, sunspot counts just hit a 9-year high. This plot from NOAA shows how the monthly sunspot number skyrocketed in January 2023: The monthly sunspot number of 144 in January 2023 was only percentage points away from topping the previous solar cycle, Solar … Continue reading Sunspot Counts Hit Their Highest Level in 9 Years
Sept. 15, 2020: Solar Cycle 25 is officially underway. NASA and NOAA made the announcement during a media teleconference earlier today. According to an international panel of experts, the sunspot number hit rock bottom in Dec. 2019, bringing an end to old Solar Cycle 24. Since then, sunspot counts have been slowly increasing, heralding new … Continue reading Solar Cycle 25 Has Begun
Feb 28, 2024: Earth isn’t the only planet with auroras. Mars has them, too–on a global scale. “Mars is experiencing its greatest level of auroral activity in the past 10 years,” says Nick Schneider of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). “In February alone, there were three episodes of global … Continue reading Global Auroras on Mars
May 4, 2023: New sunspot AR3296 is breaking the law: Hale’s Law. The sunspot’s magnetic field is reversed compared to other nearby sunspots in the sun’s northern hemisphere. This magnetogram from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the situation: According to Hale’s Law, Solar Cycle 25 sunspots in the sun’s northern hemisphere should have a … Continue reading Reversed-Polarity Sunspot
April 13: 2023: Solar Maximum is coming–maybe this year. New research by a leading group of solar physicists predicts maximum sunspot activity in late 2023 or early 2024, a full year earlier than other forecasts. “This is based on our work with the Termination Event,” explains Scott McIntosh, lead author of a paper describing the … Continue reading Solar Max Might Arrive Early
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