Sun’s Magnetic Field is About to Flip, and There’s a Problem

On the morning of September 1, 1859, English astronomer Richard Carrington was drawing sunspots through dark filters around 11:00 a.m. m. He saw a sudden flash of intense white light from the sunspot area. The entire event lasted 5 minutes, but what followed approximately 17 hours later. It was even more notable that Earth's

magnetic

field

shook when a massive solar storm hit our planet. This wasn't just any storm, it was a geo

magnetic

storm so strong that telegraph systems in Europe and North America went crazy, operators were shocked, and machines ran even when they were offline. Auroras normally seen in the polar regions dazzled skies as far south as Cuba and Hawaii, turning night into day according to Noah.

Gold miners in the Rocky Mountains woke up and made coffee, bacon, and eggs at 1:00 a.m. thinking that the sun had risen on a cloudy morning. This event now known as the Carrington event was the most powerful geomagnetic storm in recorded history, hinting at the hidden power of the sun and showing us how vulnerable our world is to its celestial moods, fast forward to today, 15 solar cycles later and we are on the verge of Another solar spectacle: The looming premature solar maximum and the reversal of the Sun's magnetic

field

as the Sun approaches the phase of its maximum activity in its 11-year cycle, promises an increase in solar flares , sunspots and coronal mass ejections as we marvel at the potential for beautiful Auroras show concern for our technology-dependent society.

The maximum also comes at a time close to the emissions mission. The humanities return to the Moon after more than half a century. So what effect will the next solar maximum have on our planet in the coming months? What are the anomalies? In this solar cycle that worries NASA, finally and most importantly, the next phase of the Sun's activity will put the lives of the astronauts of the Emis mission on the Moon at risk. Everything on Earth owes its existence to the Sun as our main source of energy. It might look the same every day from our vantage point, rising in the morning and setting at night, a cycle that has been constant throughout human history, but up close the sun is a dynamic ball of plasma, covered in spots. solar flares, flares and other features such as prominences and filaments. which can exceed our planet in size, essentially the sun is a huge ball of hot gas that is always changing, but this change follows a pattern on average every 11 years, the sun undergoes a cycle of increase and decrease in activity known as a cycle solar or Schwab cycle that we are currently in. observing the 25th cycle of such activity since systematic records began in 1755, but how did scientists notice that the sun's activity changes over time?

The key to this discovery lies in sunspots. Sunspots are temporary dark areas on the surface of the Sun that appear darker because they are colder than the surrounding areas, the temperature at the center of a sunspot is between 3000 and 4500 Kelvin, much colder compared to the Surrounding area temperature of approximately 5800 Kelvin. They are caused by intense magnetic activity and can sometimes be as large as Earth when astronomers began tracking them. sunspots regularly noticed a fascinating pattern the number of sunspots rose and fell over a cycle of about 11 years they also observed changes in the size of sunspots the areas they covered on the sun and where they were located a solar cycle begins with a few sunspots known as solar minimum and then as more sunspots appear a peak called solar maximum is reached, after this peak the number of sunspots begins to decrease marking the end of the cycle.

Another interesting pattern is where sunspots appear at the beginning of the cycle. a cycle sunspots appear in the middle latitudes of the sun as the cycle progresses they approach the equator this movement creates a pattern that looks like a butterfly when plotted on a graph called a butterfly diagram this diagram is a great way to visualize the sun The Regular Pattern of the Cycle For a long time astronomers kept track of solar activity by observing only the behavior of sunspots in space, but as technology improved, they noticed two more things that changed during a solar cycle.

The first was the solar magnetic field. The sun is a giant magnet. With a north pole and a south pole, the sun's magnetism lies at the heart of its dynamic characteristics. Astronomers discovered that the magnetic field undergoes a complete reversal of polarity with each solar cycle, this means that the solar magnetic north becomes in the south and the south becomes the To the north, the pole reversal occurs around a solar maximum that marks the end of the maximum and the transition of the cycle to its minimum and, more importantly, marks the midpoint of the cycle. This phenomenon remains one of the most intriguing unsolved

problem

s in solar physics, as we still do not understand it. why the magnetic field reverses polarity throughout the solar cycle, while the reason for the polarity reversal remains a mystery a characteristic of the sun may be playing an important role in this the sun rotates non-uniformly spinning at different speeds at different latitudes at the At the poles it rotates more slowly than at the equator, this is called differential rotation.

The rapid differential rotation of the sun is thought to cause plasma to drag magnetic field lines causing them to tangle and twist when they eventually reach the surface and create sunspots. Other instabilities further weaken the field lines, reducing them to zero and giving them the opportunity to reorganize and reappear at the poles with opposite polarity. Although polarity reversal is a regular and predictable event, it remains one of the most intriguing unsolved

problem

s. of solar physics. The aspect of the Sun that changes with the solar cycle is its overall activity, including solar flares from the solar wind and coronal mass ejections.

This activity reaches its highest point at solar maximum and its lowest point at solar minimum. Because of these findings, monitoring solar cycles now involves looking at solar activity and polarity reversal in addition to counting sunspots, but does each Does the solar cycle have the same intensity and last the same amount of time? There have been no solar cycles as short as 9 years and as long as 14 years since we started observing. close to the sun, this means that the 11-year period is an average of the time it normally takes for the sun to complete its cycle of activity.

Each solar cycle is also unique in its intensity, this is measured by the total number of sunspots so far. There have been unusual periods in the history of solar observation that left scientists baffled. One such period is the minimum m from 1645 to 175, when very few sunspots were seen, about 50 compared to the usual 40,000 to 50,000. This time of low solar activity coincided with the Little Ice Age when the North Atlantic region experienced colder than normal temperatures; another period the Dalton Minimum of 1790 to 1830 also saw fewer sunspots and was linked to lower global temperatures. it happened during solar cycles 4 to 7 then there was the modern maximum from 1933 to 2008 which had higher than usual solar activity starting in solar cycle 19, now we are in solar cycle 25 and it is a surprise based on past cycles .

Scientists thought this would be mild, but so far the sun's activity is not what it was once expected to show us. Once again, it has been shown how dynamic and unpredictable our star can be: the current solar cycle has proven to be more intense than previously predicted and is peaking earlier than expected when this cycle began in December 2019, the forecast predicted a peak in July 2025 with around 115 sunspots. The Noah Space Weather Prediction Center has updated its prediction and now expects the peak between January and October 2024 with an estimate of 137 to 173 sunspots. This change in prediction highlights the dynamic nature of solar activity and its inherent unpredictability, understanding the consequences of this increase in intensity and early peak. requires a closer look at x-class solar flares Solar flares are powerful explosions of electromagnetic radiation from the sun's atmosphere caused by the reconnection of strong magnetic fields.

The sun's complex magnetic field that covers its interior sometimes twists and distorts when these magnetic fields are stretched. Solar flares are classified according to their intensity. Class b is the smallest, followed by c m and then X, the most intense. Class c flares are generally too weak to affect Earth in any significant way. However, class m flares can cause short explosions. long-term radio blackouts at the poles and minor radiation storms POS potential risks to astronauts each class is further divided on a scale of 1 to 9 the Carington event in 1859 was associated with an x-class flare since the cycle Current solar flare initiated the first x-class X solar flare occurred on July 3, 2021, causing a substantial radio blackout.

This event marked the beginning of a series of X-class flares that have since emerged from the Sun in early 2022. One flare from the Sun was powerful enough to cause geomagnetic storms. resulting in the loss of 40 newly launched Starlink satellites, then on December 15, 2023, an X 2.8 flare disrupted radio communications on Earth for 2 hours. On New Year's Eve, the sun unleashed an X5 flare, adding to the surprises. On February 21 there were two class This was the most powerful flare emitted by the Sun in more than half a decade. The flares disrupted radio communications on Earth as the sun's activity peaked.

Scientists expect Xass flares to become more frequent. Now we come to a crucial question: does solar activity contribute to the increase in Earth's temperature thereby causing global warming? The answer to this question is found in this graph. The graph shows a relationship between solar activity and Earth's temperature from 1880 to 2020. The red line shows changes in global surface temperature and the yellow line represents the energy from the sun received by Earth in watts per meter square. The lighter lines show the annual levels, while the heavier ones. The lines show the 11-year average trends. The graph tells us that they both follow the same trend until the 1950s, but something changes after that.

Passive solar activity and temperature. The trends are beginning to divide. The divergence shows that solar activity alone cannot be blamed for global warming; while it may have some influence, it is clear that it is not the only factor at play. High solar activity can potentially affect NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon. The guidelines for the Emis mission are clear. Launches should be kept away from times close to solar storms. This precaution is due to energetic particles from solar storms that can damage electronic circuits and disrupt radio communications, which can make contact with the spacecraft difficult or even impossible;

However, there is a positive side to high solar activity: it tends to decrease the amount. of galactic and intergalactic cosmic rays that offer better protection to satellites against these harmful rays, so during periods of intense solar activity satellites are less vulnerable to damage caused by cosmic rays. On a more positive note, the maximum phase Solar enhances auroras known as the aurora borealis or Aurora Borealis: These are stunning light displays created when charged particles from the solar wind collide with molecules in Earth's atmosphere. Seeing these colorful displays is an incredible experience. The best places to see the auroras include Canada, Alaska, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Greenland, where they light up the night. sky with breathtaking beauty, as we prepare for solar maximum, reminds us that we are just a small part of a much larger Universe.

It is an opportunity to reflect on our strengths and vulnerabilities, encouraging us to look beyond our daily lives and consider the future. Largest cosmic image that connects us all Recently, the James Web Space Telescope discovered the most distant black hole ever located at the Edge of Time. The discovery of this black hole seems to havesolved one of the biggest enigmas of astronomy. If you miss this episode, be sure to catch up on the exciting discovery