Despite expert predictions for a period of prolonged quiet for the Sun, solar cycle 25 has proven to be an active one, with 143 sunspots appearing on the Sun’s surface during February alone, and numerous solar flares erupting from the star’s surface—15 of them powerful X-class events—since the current cycleread more
On April 20 the Sun unleashed a class X2.2 solar flare, the strongest seen yet in this cycle, and an eruption that illustrates the strength of solar cycle 25’s exceeding expert predictions. Although the resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) wasn’t aimed at Earth, such a solar storm couldread more
Contrary to official predictions, solar cycle 25 is getting off to an explosive start, with solar activity proving to be much higher than the weak cycle that was officially forecast, featuring a higher than expected sunspot count, numerous coronal mass ejections and at least three X-class flares having erupted sinceread more
A pair of rogue researchers with the University of Maryland are predicting that the upcoming solar cycle is going to be a doozy, a forecast that contradicts the commonly-accepted prediction that solar cycle 25 will be one of the quietest in over a century. After studying sunspot activity from data gatheredread more