The Sun has been pretty quiet in the last few years. Its flare activity has been infrequent and relatively weak.  But on May 29, it was spotted discharging its most significant flare since 2017. Here is what you should k" />

The Sun Discharged Its Biggest Flare Since 2017

The Sun has been pretty quiet in the last few years. Its flare activity has been infrequent and relatively weak. 

But on May 29, it was spotted discharging its most significant flare since 2017. Here is what you should know.

Sun’s Recent Behaviour Intrigues Astronomers

The Sun was spotted discharging its biggest flare since 2017. Such a thing could be a sign that our host star has already entered its new solar cycle. 

Astronomers have discovered that the Sun goes through 11-year activity cycles, with a defined minimum and maximum. The solar minimum (minimal level of flare activity and sunspot) represents the end of one cycle and the starting of a new one. 

The solar cycle depends on the Sun’s magnetic field, which turns over around every 11 years, with its north and south magnetic poles changing places. Astronomers still don’t know what triggers the cycles. But, when the Sun’s magnetic field is at its weakest, the solar minimum kicks in. Currently, astronomers are not sure if the solar minimum has happened or is about to occur soon. 

In 2017, NASA recorded that solar minimum should happen in 2019-2020. Last year in December, the NOAA’s Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel stated that the “solar minimum between cycles 24 and 25 would occur in April 2020 (+/- 6 months). How about the recent flare?

The flare in question occurred on May 29 – plasma escaping from a family of sunspots. Those sunspots constitute the M-class flare, the second most powerful flare classification. They’re pretty mild, but when they’re aimed at our planet, they can trigger some radio blackouts in the polar areas, and radiation storms in near-Earth space could affect the astronauts. 

The flare wasn’t pointed at our planet. NASA stated that it was a small M-class flare, reaching only M1.1 on the 10-point scale. NASA’s Lina Tran explained: “Because that minimum is defined by the lowest number of sunspots in a cycle, scientists need to […] determine when exactly they were at the bottom.”

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