Solar activity cycles have stumped scientists around the world, and research continues
When the current solar cycle began in late 2019, experts from the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which includes scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predicted that solar maximum would likely begin sometime in 2025 and would be comparable to the previous, weaker cycle. However, as the current cycle progressed, it quickly became clear that this was not the case, and that solar maximum would occur earlier and be much more intense than initially anticipated.
Sunspots and Solar Flares: A Timeline of Occurrences and Research Results in 2025
The end of 2025 was marked by the appearance of a solar spot directly facing Earth, similar in parameters to the standard for assessing modern cosmic threats—the “Carrington event.” And in early November 2025, a series of powerful X-class solar flares triggered coronal mass ejections, resulting in extensive aurora borealis displays observed as far south as Mexico.
The mystery of solar winds is almost solved
Since the 1960s, astronomers have wondered how the Sun’s supersonic “solar wind,” a stream of energetic particles that flows into the solar system, continues to gain energy after it leaves the Sun. In addition to helping scientists better predict solar activity and space weather, such information also helps us understand the mysteries of the universe elsewhere and how stars like the Sun and stellar winds elsewhere operate.