Our strong solar cycle may have peaked
Randy Mann.
JAKE PARRISH/Press
Our sun has been making news headlines as we’re currently in a strong solar cycle that has generated numerous solar flares and coronal mass ejections. CMEs are a large release of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the sun’s outer layer of its atmosphere. They will often follow solar flares and be released into the solar wind.
We’re currently in Solar Cycle 25, which is the 25th since 1755 when the recording of solar sunspot activity started. Since the beginning of Solar Cycle 25 in December 2019, the number of sunspots, or storms on the sun, has been the highest since 2002. For much of 2023, the average number of sunspots reported per day on the sun has been close to 140. From Jan. 1 through Oct. 25, the average has been a little higher with an average of 153 sunspots. Scientists recently stated that we are likely to have reached the peak of this cycle, but anticipate more solar and geomagnetic storms over at least the next several years. This current cycle is expected to flip to a “solar minima,” or Solar Cycle 26, around 2030.
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