A Record Number Of Sunspots Are Visible On The Surface Of The Sun, Which Will Make The Sun Become More Violent
Recently, a record number of sunspots were visible on the surface of the sun. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has captured images of hundreds of individual sunspots that indicate increased solar activity.
Sunspots appear dark in images. They also look incredibly tiny, but in reality, they are around the size of our entire planet.
Sunspots release strong magnetic fields that can launch solar flares, letting loose electromagnetic radiation pulses into space and creating explosions that cause coronal mass ejections (CMEs). This process can trigger solar storms on Earth that may disrupt GPS and communication signals.
According to the measurements taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), the daily sunspot number has reached 337, which is the highest it’s been since March 2001.
“It is based on a standard calculation that we used based on United States Air Force (USAF) solar observations that report sunspots to us at SWPC. But our sunspot number is not the official number; that comes later from Belgium and the Solar Influences Data Center (SIDC),” said Shawn Dahl, the Service Coordinator for NOAA’s SWPC.
“Meanwhile, we analyze every group of spots visible on the sun and calculate their potential for solar flare and energetic particle events, and we also produce a daily summary of all the active regions each day.”
The final daily sunspot number will be confirmed by the end of August. Currently, the number varies, as many observatories have reported different figures.
The World Data Center – Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations (WDC-SILSO) and the SIDC in Belgium say that the count is at 299, which would be the highest since July 2002.
Due to intense solar activity, there have been several solar flare and CME events. As of August 18, there were 45 CMEs, 26 M-class flares and one X-class flare, which triggered a geomagnetic storm on Earth, according to NASA’s weekly space weather report.
GIS – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
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The latest geomagnetic storm warning was issued over the weekend of August 11 and 12 after solar flares fired off five CMEs toward Earth on August 10.
Solar Cycle 25, the current solar cycle, is underway. About five years ago, it was estimated to be a lot less intense than it is turning out to be.
“This Solar Cycle 25 is proving to be much more active than originally forecast by the science experts who predicted the cycle back in 2019 or so,” Dahl said.
The cycle has already become famous for its geomagnetic storms that produced bright, colorful auroras around the world. Now, it’s set to hold the record for the biggest daily sunspot number in 20 years.
As the number of sunspots goes up, the sun will become more violent. We can expect to see an increase in solar flares and CME events in the future.
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