The sunspot cycle has reached the bottom of a cycle, and is now heading toward a sunspot peak. Here’s a look at what more sunspots could mean over the next few years.
NASA image on April 6, 2020 shows one large sunspot on the upper right quadrant of the sun.
Sunspots are magnetic explosions on the sun. The number of sunspots go through a fairly regular cycle. From peak to trough to peak, a sunspot cycle takes on average 11 years. Mike Murray, astronomer and program director at the Delta College Planetarium, says the sunspot cycle does not always have an exact 11 year cycle. The length often varies from nine years to 13 years. Murray also states there have been periods in time when the sunspot cycle has been absent. One famous period that lacked a sunspot cycle was the Maunder Minimum, in which sunspots were rare for about 70 years starting in 1645.
Sunspot comparison in the trough versus the peak of sunspots.
Murray says we know that a new sunspot cycle has started because the polarity of the sun changes as a new cycle emerges.
One sky-lover’s delight is more Aurora Borealis, or northern lights, typically occur during the sunspot peak. One producer of northern lights is the Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) that occur from a sunspot. When a sunspot erupts as the sun is facing Earth, the energy thrown out of that sunspot can hit Earth and create northern lights.
Close up of a sunspot in 2014. (Photo courtesy of NASA)
So the lull in northern lights this past year may be about to end. Of course Murray reminds us that it will take up to six years for the sunspots to ramp up. Every year should have more sunspots that the last as we head toward peak sunspot activity.
NASA also predicts this next sunspot cycle will peak with less sunspots than the last cycle. In fact, Murray states that each of the last three sunspot maximums has had less sunspots that the previous max.
Sunspot graph showing the peaks in the last two cycles.
Murray reminds us that all it takes is one robust sunspot erupting right at Earth to set off a magical night of northern lights. We can get excited that northern lights chances are increasing now through 2025.
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April 07, 2020 at 09:37AM
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Sunspot cycle coming out of bottom of cycle, could mean more northern lights - MLive.com
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