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Solar Maximum 

 

Every 11 years the sun undergoes a period of activity called the "solar maximum", followed by a period of quiet called the "solar minimum". During the solar maximum there are many sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections, all of which can affect communications and weather here on Earth.

 

Solar maximum or solar max is the period of greatest solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During solar maximum, sunspots appear. Solar maximum is contrasted with solar minimum. Solar maximum is the period when the suns magnetic field lines are the most distorted due to the magnetic field on the solar equator rotating at a slightly faster pace than at the solar poles. The sun takes about 11 years to go from one solar maximum to another and 22 years to complete a full cycle (where the magnetic charge on the poles is the same).

The Sun, a roiling ball of plasma, occupies its place in space approximately 93 million miles from Earth. Though it seems simple to inhabitants of this planet -- the Sun shines, giving light and heat -- the processes occurring in the Sun are so complex that many scientists devote their careers to just one aspect of solar activity.

Changes in the activity of the Sun particularly engage solar scientists. Whether fluctuations in the solar magnetic field, expulsions of plasma called coronal mass ejections, emissions of high-energy flares, or changes in the sunspot number, variations in solar activity can be dramatic and therefore highly interesting.

Through careful study of solar activity (particularly sunspots, visible from Earth through telescopes) over hundreds of years, scientists have found a consistent cycle of activity: every eleven years, activity rises to a maximum, then falls to a minimum. To track the solar cycle, scientists plot the average of Wolf numbers (values from a method of counting sunspots devised by Johann Rudolf Wolf in 1848) from various observatories daily to get a sunspot number graph.

The sunspot or solar cycle does not have the same magnitude every eleven years, however. Entire cycles can have lower activity levels than usual, as during the Maunder Minimum from 1645 to 1700, or the upcoming maximum might have more activity than ever. 

First official sunspot belonging to the new Solar Cycle 24

First official sunspot belonging to the new Solar Cycle 24.

Credit: NASA , European Space Agency

 

 

 

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Data compiled from The British Antarctic Study, NASA, Environment Canada, UNEP, EPA and other sources as stated and credited  Researched by Charles Welch-Updated dailyThis Website is a project of the The Ozone Hole Inc. a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization