Image: Wikimedia Commons
The Sun was looking a little iffy there for a while, but everyone can rest assured that our beloved star and center of the solar system is back to doing normal stuff, albeit much weaker than usual.
About six months ago, we were wondering if the Sun was doing okay. In what should have been a period of great solar tempestuousness, the solar maximum, it was instead holding pretty steady—to the point where NASA’s Jonathan Cirtain was calling this solar cycle “a total punk.”
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But now things are back on track. According to Doug Bieseker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, “Solar Maximum is here …. Finally.”
But the fact remains, even here in its heyday, this solar peak is still kind of a punk.
“This solar cycle continues to rank among the weakest on record,” said Ron Turner of Analytic Services, Inc., who serves as a senior science advisor to NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program. “In the historical record, there are only a few Solar Maxima weaker than this one.”
The Sun has fairly dependable cycles, alternating between periods with lots of sunspots, solar flares, and magnetic storms and periods of quiet. Some call it the 11-year cycle, although according to NASA it can take anywhere from nine to 14 years, or just not happen at all. This solar peak, which follows historically low numbers of sunspots and flares in 2008 and 2009, got started two years later than expected, and is indeed one mellow sun. You can see the line indicating how many smoothed sunspots have been spotted in red, in the image above.
Which isn’t to say that nothing is going on. Just as NASA was putting together its notice about how mellow this solar cycle is likely to be, the sun fired off a big ol’ pair of solar flares on Tuesday morning. The solar peak is just now getting going.
“The activity of sun spots is increasing,” Hunter Outten told Accuweather. “There is a potential for more strong solar flares.”
Image: NASA/JPL
And there will inevitably be more as the solar peak starts fading by 2015. According to NASA, some of the strongest solar flares happen during the declining phases of the solar cycle. Mostly, I’m just glad the Sun—our Sun—is doing okay.
