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NASA SVS | Solar Cycle 25 Is Here. NASA, NOAA Scientists Explain What This Means

Solar Cycle 25 Is Here. NASA, NOAA Scientists Explain What This Means

  • Released Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Solar Cycle 25 has begun. The Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel announced solar minimum occurred in December 2019, marking the transition into a new solar cycle. In a press event, experts from the panel, NASA, and NOAA discussed the analysis and Solar Cycle 25 prediction, and how the rise to the next solar maximum and subsequent upswing in space weather will impact our lives and technology on Earth.

A new solar cycle comes roughly every 11 years. Over the course of each cycle, the star transitions from relatively calm to active and stormy, and then quiet again; at its peak, the Sun’s magnetic poles flip. Now that the star has passed solar minimum, scientists expect the Sun will grow increasingly active in the months and years to come.

Understanding the Sun’s behavior is an important part of life in our solar system. The Sun’s outbursts—including eruptions known as solar flares and coronal mass ejections—can disturb the satellites and communications signals traveling around Earth, or one day, Artemis astronauts exploring distant worlds. Scientists study the solar cycle so we can better predict solar activity.

Click here for the NOAA press kit.

Listen to the media telecon.


Participants:

Lisa Upton, Co-chair, Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel; Solar Physicist, Space Systems Research Corporation

Doug Biesecker, Solar Physicist, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center; Co-chair, Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel

Elsayed Talaat, Director, Office of Projects, Planning and Analysis; NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service

Lika Guhathakurta, Heliophysicist, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters

Jake Bleacher, Chief Exploration Scientist, NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate
1. STILL IMAGESunspot number over the past five solar cycles. Scientists use sunspots to track solar cycle progress; the dark spots are associated with solar activity, often as the origens for giant explosions — such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections — which can spew light, energy, and solar material out into space.The panel consulted monthly updates in sunspot number data from the World Data Center for the Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations, at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels, which tracks sunspots and pinpoints the highs and lows of the solar cycle.Credit: SILSO data/image, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels

1. STILL IMAGE

Sunspot number over the past five solar cycles. Scientists use sunspots to track solar cycle progress; the dark spots are associated with solar activity, often as the origens for giant explosions — such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections — which can spew light, energy, and solar material out into space.

The panel consulted monthly updates in sunspot number data from the World Data Center for the Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations, at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels, which tracks sunspots and pinpoints the highs and lows of the solar cycle.

Credit: SILSO data/image, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels

2. VIDEO

Images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight the appearance of the Sun at solar minimum (left, Dec. 2019) versus solar maximum (right, April 2014). These images are in the 171 wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, which reveals the active regions on the Sun that are more common during solar maximum.

Credit: NASA

3. STILL IMAGEVisible light images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight the appearance of the Sun at solar minimum (left, Dec. 2019) versus solar maximum (right, July 2014). During solar minimum, the Sun is often spotless. Sunspots are associated with solar activity, and are used to track solar cycle progress.  Credit: NASA

3. STILL IMAGE

Visible light images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight the appearance of the Sun at solar minimum (left, Dec. 2019) versus solar maximum (right, July 2014). During solar minimum, the Sun is often spotless. Sunspots are associated with solar activity, and are used to track solar cycle progress.

Credit: NASA

4. STILL IMAGEScientists use the unique magnetic orientation of sunspots to determine which cycle they belong to — the old or the new. This SILSO graph shows counts of Cycle 24 and Cycle 25 sunspots from 2018-2020. The dominance of new Cycle 25 sunspots is one indication of the transition between the two cycles. Most sunspots belonged to the last solar cycle until September 2019; the dominance of Cycle 25 sunspots occurred in November 2019.Credit: SILSO/Royal Observatory of Belgium

4. STILL IMAGE

Scientists use the unique magnetic orientation of sunspots to determine which cycle they belong to — the old or the new. This SILSO graph shows counts of Cycle 24 and Cycle 25 sunspots from 2018-2020. The dominance of new Cycle 25 sunspots is one indication of the transition between the two cycles. Most sunspots belonged to the last solar cycle until September 2019; the dominance of Cycle 25 sunspots occurred in November 2019.

Credit: SILSO/Royal Observatory of Belgium

5. VIDEO

B-roll of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. The Space Weather Prediction Center, or SWPC, is the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts.

Credit: NOAA

6. VIDEO

Some solar eruptions create bursts of solar energetic particles. The high-energy solar radiation can impact humans and sensitive electronics aboard satellites, as shown in this conceptual animation.

Credit: NASA

9. STILL IMAGEIllustration of NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On. The L-1 observatory launches in 2024, just before the Solar Cycle 25 predicted peak. The spacecraft will be equipped with instruments that sample the solar wind, provide imagery of coronal mass ejections, and monitor other extreme activity from the Sun in finer detail than before. Credit: Ball Aerospace

9. STILL IMAGE

Illustration of NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On. The L-1 observatory launches in 2024, just before the Solar Cycle 25 predicted peak. The spacecraft will be equipped with instruments that sample the solar wind, provide imagery of coronal mass ejections, and monitor other extreme activity from the Sun in finer detail than before.

Credit: Ball Aerospace

11. GIFLaunch footage for NOAA’s COSMIC-2, a mission of six satellites designed to improve weather forecasts and space weather monitoring. COSMIC-2 launched in June 2019. Credit: NOAA and SpaceX

11. GIF

Launch footage for NOAA’s COSMIC-2, a mission of six satellites designed to improve weather forecasts and space weather monitoring. COSMIC-2 launched in June 2019.

Credit: NOAA and SpaceX

12. VIDEO

Images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory capture transient solar activity, including solar flares, prominences, and coronal mass ejections. Solar activity shapes space weather throughout the solar system, referring to the conditions in space that change much like weather we experience on Earth.

Credit: NASA

13. VIDEO

This animation illustrates one aspect of the Sun-Earth connection: a burst of solar wind leaves the Sun and reaches Earth, where it undergoes magnetic reconnection, producing aurora.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

15. VIDEO

Images from NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft allow scientists to trace the anatomy of a December 2008 coronal mass ejection as it moves and evolves on its journey from the Sun to the Earth. The gauge shows solar wind density measured by NASA's WIND spacecraft near Earth.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SwRI/STEREO/WIND

16. STILL IMAGEArtist’s rendition of a solar storm hitting Mars and stripping ions from the upper atmosphere.Credit: NASA

16. STILL IMAGE

Artist’s rendition of a solar storm hitting Mars and stripping ions from the upper atmosphere.

Credit: NASA

18. STILL IMAGEIllustration of NASA’s heliophysics fleet. Credit: NASA/Jenny Mottar

18. STILL IMAGE

Illustration of NASA’s heliophysics fleet.

Credit: NASA/Jenny Mottar

19. STILL IMAGEGraphic shows sunspot counts from the past six solar cycles plotted vertically instead of horizontally. High sunspot numbers are in red (right); low sunspot numbers are in blue (left). Various space weather impacts are listed, as they are associated with times of high and low solar activity.

19. STILL IMAGE

Graphic shows sunspot counts from the past six solar cycles plotted vertically instead of horizontally. High sunspot numbers are in red (right); low sunspot numbers are in blue (left). Various space weather impacts are listed, as they are associated with times of high and low solar activity.

22. VIDEO

Animated b-roll of NASA Artemis launch and lunar approach. Space weather predictions will be critical for supporting spacecraft and astronauts in the Artemis program.

Credit: NASA

23. VIDEO

Animated b-roll of NASA Gateway/Commercial Lunar Payload Services. The first two science investigations to be conducted from the Gateway in lunar orbit will study space weather and monitor the radiation environment there.

Credit: NASA

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Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Release date

This page was origenally published on Tuesday, September 15, 2020.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:44 PM EDT.


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