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Roughly every 11 years, the

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Sun's magnetic field

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completely flips.

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This means the Sun's

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north and south magnetic

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poles switch places.

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Around the time of this flip

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solar activity

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gradually ramps up.

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The Sun will have

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more sunspots

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and solar eruptions

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like solar flares

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and coronal mass ejections.

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The peak of this activity

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is known as solar maximum.

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Solar maximum marks

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the halfway point of

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the solar cycle,

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and usually means a year

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or two of high solar activity.

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During this time,

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we might see more severe

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geomagnetic storms

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at Earth,

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which trigger aurora

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but also threaten

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our communications,

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satellites, and power grids.

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NASA scientists continue

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to study the solar cycle

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so we can better understand

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solar activity

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to protect our technology

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in space and on Earth.