Solar Cycle 25 has officially started in December 2019

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 17:47 UTC

Solar Cycle 24 will go into the history books as a fairly weak cycle. It is the 4th-weakest Solar Cycle since record keeping began with Solar Cycle 1 in 1755. Solar Cycle 24 was average in length at 11 years and by far the weakest solar cycle in modern times. Solar maximum occurred in April 2014 with the sunspot number peaking at 114 which is well below average. The average maximum sunspot number at solar maximum is 179. Solar Cycle 24 produced 49 X-class solar flares with an X9.3 solar flare being the strongest of them all this month exactly three years ago.

Solar Cycle 25

Solar Cycle 25 is expected to be of a similar magnitude or slightly stronger than Solar Cycle 24 with peak activity expected July 2025. Since December 2019 we have been seeing a slow but steady uptick in solar activity with an M-class solar flare on 29 May this year being the highlight of this Solar Cycle thus far. Solar minimum is now officially behind us and we can start to focus on a more active Sun in the years ahead! We cant wait that's for sure!