The Solar Cycle As Seen From Space

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 origins 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 || 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 || 2. VIDEOImages 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 || 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 || 5. VIDEOB-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. VIDEOSome 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 || 7. VIDEOImages from NOAA’s GOES-16/SUVI show a coronal mass ejection on Sept. 10, 2017. || 8. VIDEOImages from NOAA’s GOES-16/SUVI show a coronal mass ejection on July 28, 2017. || 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 || 10. VIDEOConceptual animation of the GOES-R spacecraft. This animation depicts the spacecraft on orbit.Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NOAA, Lockheed Martin || 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 || 12. VIDEOImages 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. VIDEOThis 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 || 14. VIDEOA video tracks a coronal mass ejection’s path from the Sun to Earth, using images from NASA’s STEREO satellite. Credit: NASA/SwRI/STEREO || 15. VIDEOImages from NASA 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. || 20. VIDEOArtist interpretation of flying by Earth, the sun, and heliopause. Solar wind—the constantly blowing stream of charged particles from the Sun—fills space throughout the solar system.Credit: NASA || 21. VIDEOAn artist’s interpretation of a solar eruption, including a solar flare, coronal mass ejection, and solar energetic particle event. Credit: NASA || 22. VIDEOAnimated 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. VIDEOAnimated 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

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music credits: “Infinite” by Joseph Pincus [ASCAP]; “Reflective Sensations”, “Ideas For Tomorrow”, “Think Tank” by Laurent Dury [SACEM]; “Wonderful Orbit” by Tom Furse Fairfax Cowan [PRS] || A new solar cycle comes roughly every 11 years. Over the course of each cycle, the Sun 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. As of 2020, the Sun has begun to shake off the sleep of minimum, which occurred in December 2019, and Solar Cycle 25 is underway. Scientists use several indicators to track solar cycle progress. || 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 origins 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 || A collection of sunspot drawings during the last solar maximum in 2014 from The Uccle Solar Equatorial Table, Royal Observatory of Belgium.Credit: USET data/image, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels

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