The Sun Is Approaching Its Solar Maximum Much Sooner Than Expected and Scientists Don’t Know Why

Amaze Lab

The solar maximum, or the apex of the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle where it is at its most active, was expected to arrive in summer 2025. Now, researchers at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and NASA say we should expect it significantly sooner.

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:03 The solar maximum, or the apex of the sun's 11-year solar cycle where it's at its most active,

00:08 was expected to arrive in summer 2025.

00:11 But now experts say it's coming earlier, much earlier, and they don't really know why.

00:16 According to researchers at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research and NASA,

00:20 we should expect the sun's activity to peak mid to late 2024,

00:24 possibly more than a year ahead of schedule.

00:26 The solar maximum forecasts are usually made by looking at when the sun's activity is at its solar minimum.

00:31 However, the researchers who made this updated prediction instead looked at its sunspots and magnetic properties,

00:37 which actually makes a lot of sense if you know anything about solar maximums.

00:40 As the sun moves past the height of the cycle, its activity wanes,

00:44 featuring less sunspots while its magnetic poles flip.

00:46 So instead of looking at when the full cycle ended,

00:49 they instead looked at when the last cycle's last sunspots faded away,

00:52 which was actually two years earlier.

00:54 The sun has made a lot of headlines over the last year as it approaches its apex.

00:58 That's because it becomes more active, with more solar storms and coronal mass ejections as it reaches that point.

01:03 As we approach a possible 2024 maximum,

01:06 those storms and ejections can cause problems with technology and power grids on Earth,

01:11 but also create beautiful auroras in the skies over our planet.

01:16 [music]

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