The Sun Is Waking Up — Right On Schedule – Sky & Telescope
NASA / GSFC / SDO
The Sun is waking up.
In recent weeks, NASA has announced X-class solar flares, observers have seen large sunspot groups with the unaided eye, and online services have issued multiple aurora alerts even for mid-latitudes.
After years of quiescence — the Sun was more often spotless than not in 2018, 2019, and 2020 — the change of pace is exciting solar observers. The Sun goes through 11-year cycles of magnetically instigated activity, which include sunspots, flares, and massive eruptions. While such activity last peaked around 2012 through 2014, that maximum was meager at best. In fact, it marked one of the quietest cycles in 100 years.
Now, the uptick in activity seems to mark a change in the Sun’s behavior. Lisa Upton (Space Sy...