Our Sun Is Going Through A Highly Aggressive Phase on Solar Cycle 25 @TheCosmosNews
#thecosmosnews Sun s Upcoming Peak of Sunspot and Solar Flare Activity Could Set Records Northern lights “Auras” Will Be Visible New Sunspot Cycle could be one of the strongest on record Solar activity refers to changes in the Sun’s magnetic field, which repeats over a cycle of about eleven years. The magnetic variations cause the number of sunspots to increase and decrease, which also affects the frequency of solar flares; powerful eruptions of radiation on the Sun’s surface that spread outwards through the Solar System and cause fluctuations in phenomena such as the aurora on Earth. The impact on the Earth and the surroundings of our planet caused by fluctuations in solar activity are referred to as “space weather”. In April this year, space weather became a hot topic when the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications estimated the potential cell phone outages, wide-spread power outages, and the reduced GPS accuracy that would occur if extreme space weather phenomena on the scale of an X10-class flare were to repeatedly occur for about two weeks. X-class flares are the strongest category of solar flare, with the subsequent number indicating the strength within that class. The cycle of the Sun’s activity is defined by the number of sunspots visible on the Sun’s surface. In December 2019, the Sun entered its 25th activity cycle. This led to an expected increase in solar activity, resulting in the large flares that have been reported recently and continue to occur. Here’s a list of a few recent events: On October 28, 2021, the second X-class flare of Cycle 25 occurred. As it occurred near the centre of the Sun’s surface (right in front of the Earth), there were concerns about the impact on the Earth, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) sent out information which was reported on by the media. Of the 49 Starlink satellites that were launched on February 3, 2022, 40 re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It is believed that the satellites’ orbit was disrupted by the expansion of the Earth’s atmosphere caused by a flare that had occurred just before launch. Numerous X-class flares occurred between March and April this year. On May 3, an X1.1 class flare occurred, and on May 10, this was followed by an X1.5 class flare.
