solar cycle 25 Archives

August 12, 2024August 12, 2024 by David Dickinson

The Next Solar Cycle Has Started… But the Current One Hasn’t Finished Yet

We may be already seeing the makings of next solar cycle, peeking out through the current one.

It’s been a wild ride. Thus far, Solar Cycle Number 25 has been one of the strongest cycles in recent memory, producing several massive sunspot groups. The current large region turned Earthward (Active Region 3780) is now easily visible with eclipse glasses… no magnification needed. Cycle 25 started back in 2019.

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 by Matt Williams

We Just had the Strongest Solar Flare in the Current Solar Cycle

A solar flare erupts on the Sun. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

On December 14th, at 12:02 PM Eastern (09:02 AM Pacific), the Sun unleashed a massive solar flare. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, part of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this was the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25, which began in 2019 and will continue until 2030. What’s more, scientists at the SWPC estimate that this may be one of the most powerful solar flares recorded since 1755 when extensive recording of solar sunspot activity began.

March 3, 2023March 3, 2023 by David Dickinson

ESA’s Solar Orbiter Spies a Transit of Mercury

Solar Orbiter’s unique vantage point recently allowed researchers to make a crucial observation of the solar system’s innermost world.

You never know when a chance for some extra space science will present itself. Recently, European Space Agency (ESA) mission controllers had just such a chance, when the planet Mercury passed in front of our host star as seen from the Solar Orbiter’s point of view in space.

October 11, 2022October 11, 2022 by David Dickinson

China Launches First Solar Observatory ASO-S

China launches ASO-S, its first mission to explore the Sun.

One thing’s certain in modern astronomy: you can’t have too many missions exploring our host star. This is especially true in 2022, as Solar Cycle #25 gets underway in earnest, and heads towards its peak in 2025. China entered the quest to explore our Sun this past weekend, with the launch of its new Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S).

April 21, 2022April 21, 2022 by David Dickinson

Chinese Astronomers Recorded Earliest Account of Aurora

How dating an ancient text revealed one of the oldest observations of aurora known.

It’s one of the greatest sky spectacles you can witness. Along with a total solar eclipse and a major meteor storm, I’d put a fine aurora display up there as one of the the most amazing things you can see in the night sky. And we’re not talking about the dull green glow that folks in the ‘lower 48’ see to the north and dismiss, but the glorious silent streamers of auroral curtains that can light up the entire sky.

Now, a recent study, entitled A Candidate Auroral Report in the Bamboo Annals Indicating a Possible Extreme Space Weather Event in the 10^th Century BCE may have pinpointed one of the earliest accounts on ancient aurorae. In the study, University of Pennsylvania and Nagoya University researchers culled through the legendary chronicle known as the Bamboo Annals (also sometimes referred to as Zhushu Jinian) penned around the 4^th century BCE. Chinese texts are some of the best documented sources of sky phenomena stretching back over the millennia, to include accounts of naked eye sunspots, supernovae and meteor outbursts.

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022 by David Dickinson

ESA’s Solar Orbiter Takes a Ludicrously High Resolution Image of the Sun

An artists concept of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft studying the Sun. Credit: ESA.

The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter snaps an amazing image, en route to its first close pass near the Sun.

You’ve never seen the Sun like this. Earlier this month, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter captured an amazing view of our host star.

The images were snapped on March 7^th, as Solar Orbiter passed directly between the Earth and the Sun. There was an explicit reason for this, as the science team wanted to calibrate and compare the images with Earth-based and missions in Earth orbit, to include the Inouye solar observatory, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and the joint ESA/NASA Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), located at the Lagrange (L1) Sun-Earth point.

February 12, 2021February 12, 2021 by David Dickinson

ESA’s Solar Orbiter ‘Hides’ Behind the Sun

A deep-space mission is about to pull a ‘vanishing act,’ through mid-February, as the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter (affectionately known as ‘SolO’ to mission controllers) makes a crucial pass behind the Sun.

January 13, 2021January 27, 2021 by David Dickinson

Will Solar Cycle 25 Dazzle or Fizzle in 2021?

A new study suggests that Solar Cycle 25 may be more powerful than previously predicted.

It’s the big question in solar astronomy for 2021 and the new decade. Will Solar Cycle 25 wow observers, or be a washout? A new study goes against the consensus, suggesting we may be in for a wild ride… if predictions and analysis of past solar cycle transitions hold true.

September 23, 2020September 22, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Solar Cycle 25 has arrived. Here’s what to expect from the Sun in the coming months and years

The sun goes through a regular 11-year cycle, swinging between periods of dormancy and periods of activity. Scientists from NASA and NOAA have just announced that the sun has just passed its minimum, and will be ramping up in activity over the next few years, meaning that we have entered a new round of the never-ending solar cycle.

August 29, 2018September 5, 2018 by David Dickinson

Are We Witnessing the Start of Solar Cycle 25?

Solar sunspot — The Sun in hydrogen alpha from August 25th, 2018, showing enigmatic sunspot AR 2720. Image credit and copyright: Damien Weatherly.

What’s up with the Sun? As we’ve said previous, what the Sun isn’t doing is the big news of 2018 in solar astronomy. Now, the Sun sent us another curveball this past weekend, with the strange tale of growing sunspot AR 2720.

Continue reading “Are We Witnessing the Start of Solar Cycle 25?”