NASA, NOAA Announce That the Sun Has Reached the Solar Maximum Period

  • Released Tuesday, October 15, 2024
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In a teleconference with reporters on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, representatives from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), and the Solar Cycle Prediction Panel announced the Sun has reached its solar maximum period.

The solar cycle is the natural cycle of the Sun as it transitions between low and high activity. Roughly every 11 years, at the height of the solar cycle, the Sun’s magnetic poles flip — on Earth, that’d be like the North and South Poles swapping places every decade — and the Sun transitions from sluggish to active and stormy.

During the most active part of the cycle, known as solar maximum, the Sun can unleash immense explosions of light, energy, and solar radiation — all of which create conditions known as space weather. Space weather can affect satellites and astronauts in space, as well as communications systems — such as radio and GPS — and power grids on Earth. When the Sun is most active, space weather events become more frequent. Solar activity, such as the storm in May 2024, has led to increased aurora visibility and impacts on satellites and infrastructure in recent months.

Listen to the media telecon.

Read NASA's article about the news.

1. Video

Images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight the appearance of the Sun at solar minimum (left, Dec. 2019) versus solar maximum (right, May 2024). These images are in the 171 wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, which reveals the active regions on the Sun that are more common during solar maximum.

Credit: NASA/SDO

2. Still ImageVisible light images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight the appearance of the Sun at solar minimum (left, Dec. 2019) versus solar maximum (right, August 2024). During solar minimum, the Sun is often spotless. Sunspots are associated with solar activity, and are used to track solar cycle progress.Credit: NASA/SDO

2. Still Image

Visible light images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight the appearance of the Sun at solar minimum (left, Dec. 2019) versus solar maximum (right, August 2024). During solar minimum, the Sun is often spotless. Sunspots are associated with solar activity, and are used to track solar cycle progress.

Credit: NASA/SDO

3. Still ImageSunspot number over the previous twenty-four solar cycles. Scientists use sunspots to track solar cycle progress; the dark spots are associated with solar activity, often as the origins for giant explosions - such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections - which can spew light, energy, and solar material out into space.Credit: NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction CenterAdditional imagery of solar cycle progression can be found here.

3. Still Image

Sunspot number over the previous twenty-four solar cycles. Scientists use sunspots to track solar cycle progress; the dark spots are associated with solar activity, often as the origins for giant explosions - such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections - which can spew light, energy, and solar material out into space.

Credit: NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center

Additional imagery of solar cycle progression can be found here.

4. Still ImageThe Solar Cycle 25 forecast, produced by the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, which is co-chaired by NASA and NOAA. Sunspot number is an indicator of solar cycle strength - the higher the sunspot number, the stronger the cycle.Credit: NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction CenterAdditional imagery of solar cycle progression can be found here.

4. Still Image

The Solar Cycle 25 forecast, produced by the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, which is co-chaired by NASA and NOAA. Sunspot number is an indicator of solar cycle strength - the higher the sunspot number, the stronger the cycle.

Credit: NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center

Additional imagery of solar cycle progression can be found here.

5. Still ImageOn October 3, 2024, the Sun emitted a strong solar flare. As of this date, this solar flare is the largest of Solar Cycle 25 and is classified as an X9.0 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured imagery of this solar flare - as seen in the bright flash in the center - on October 3, 2024. The image shows a blend of 171 Angstrom, and 131 Angstrom light, subsets of extreme ultraviolet light.Credit: NASA/SDOAdditional imagery of this solar event can be found here.

5. Still Image

On October 3, 2024, the Sun emitted a strong solar flare. As of this date, this solar flare is the largest of Solar Cycle 25 and is classified as an X9.0 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured imagery of this solar flare - as seen in the bright flash in the center - on October 3, 2024. The image shows a blend of 171 Angstrom, and 131 Angstrom light, subsets of extreme ultraviolet light.

Credit: NASA/SDO

Additional imagery of this solar event can be found here.

6. Video

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured these images of solar flares - as seen in the bright flashes in the left image (May 8, 2024 flare) and the right image (May 7, 2024 flare). The image shows 131 angstrom light, a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in orange.

Credit: NASA/SDO

Additional imagery of this solar event can be found here.

7. Video

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of two plasma filaments launched from Active Region 13614 (upper left) on March 21, 2024. The image shows 304 angstrom light - a wavelength used to show cooler dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences) that occur above the Sun’s visible surface. The bright areas show where the plasma’s density is highest.

Credit: NASA/SDO

8. Video

This imagery captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a solar flare and a subsequent eruption of solar material that occurred over the left limb of the Sun on November 29, 2020. Also visible in the imagery is an eruption of solar material that achieved escape velocity and moved out into space as a giant cloud of gas and magnetic fields known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME.

Credit: NASA/SDO

Additional imagery of this solar event can be found here.

9. Video

Artist interpretation of flying by the Earth, Sun and Heliopause.

Credit: NASA’s Conceptual Image Lab/Jonathan North

10. Video

Some solar eruptions create bursts of solar energetic particles. The high-energy solar radiation can impact humans and sensitive electronics aboard satellites, as shown in this conceptual animation.

Credit: NASA’s Conceptual Image Lab/Krystofer Kim

11. Video

Animated b-roll of NASA Artemis launch and lunar approach. Space weather predictions will be critical for supporting spacecraft and astronauts in the Artemis program.

Credit: NASA

12. Still ImageThis graphic shows the Heliophysics Division fleet as of July 2024. Green indicates missions in operation, blue indicates missions in the extended operation, and yellow indicates future missions. Numbers in parentheses indicate how many spacecraft the mission currently includes.Credit: NASA

12. Still Image

This graphic shows the Heliophysics Division fleet as of July 2024. Green indicates missions in operation, blue indicates missions in the extended operation, and yellow indicates future missions. Numbers in parentheses indicate how many spacecraft the mission currently includes.

Credit: NASA

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
This page was last updated on Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 11:21 AM EDT.