The sun is approaching a solar maximum:
How will it affect the Earth?
The sun is approaching a solar maximum.
Sun's current cycle may reach its peak in 2024 instead of the previously predicted 2025.
The sun goes through a natural solar cycle approximately every 11 years.
The cycle is marked by the increase and decrease of sunspots, visible as dark blemishes on the sun’s surface.
The greatest number of sunspots in any given solar cycle is designated as “solar maximum”.
The lowest number is “solar minimum”.
The current solar cycle is the 25th since the records began in 1755 and started in 2019.
Now the cycle is nearing its peak. In April, the sun exploded with three major solar flares.
There were 23 coronal mass ejections and a massive geomagnetic storm that struck Earth and raged for over two days.
Solar physicists also found 96 sunspots on its surface.
The peak of the cycle will have around 185 monthly sunspots, which is lower than the prediction.
The cycles vary in activity. The weakest on record has produced less than 100 sunspots and the strongest nearly 300.
High-energy particles travel toward Earth during the solar maximum.
The increased radiation activity can have serious health consequences for astronauts.
It can lead to large-scale blackouts and disrupt radio communications across the world.
Solar activity during the solar cycle increases opportunities to see auroras.
Solar cycle effects ripple through the solar system, impacting planets without protective magnetosphere like Venus.
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