NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has revised their forecast for the upcoming maximum for solar cycle 25, now expected to peak at some point before October of next year instead of sometime in 2025; additionally, next year’s maximum will be much “stronger” than what was previously expected. Although NOAA’sread more

Despite expert predictions for a period of prolonged quiet for the Sun, solar cycle 25 has proven to be an active one, with 143 sunspots appearing on the Sun’s surface during February alone, and numerous solar flares erupting from the star’s surface—15 of them powerful X-class events—since the current cycleread more

     On April 20 the Sun unleashed a class X2.2 solar flare, the strongest seen yet in this cycle, and an eruption that illustrates the strength of solar cycle 25’s exceeding expert predictions. Although the resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) wasn’t aimed at Earth, such a solar storm couldread more