The Sun is a dynamic entity, going through a roughly 11-year cycle of increased and decreased activity. Currently the Sun is approaching the solar maximum period within the cycle, a time when the Sun is most likely to display brilliant flares, dark sunspots, loops of plasma, and swirls of super-hot gas. The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft saw this kind of activity (pictured to the right) during a recent close approach to the Sun. According to a prediction made by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center last December, the current cycle activity will occur sooner, increase more quickly, be more intense than their last prediction in 2019, and will peak somewhere between now and October 2024. As a result of the solar maximum, we on earth can expect increased interference with the electrical grid and radio reception, degraded GPS signals, increased orbital drag on satellites, and a rise in the risk for radiation hazards to airline crews, astronauts, and the equipment they utilize. On a more positive note, the total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. along an arc stretching from Texas to Maine on Apr 8, 2024 will occur near the peak of the cycle and viewers have a good chance of seeing spectacular coronas (solar flares) visible only during an eclipse.Another Solar Maximum is Coming
Image credit: ESA & NASA / Solar Orbiter / EUI Team