The sun is expected to reach solar maximum, or the peak of its 11-year cycle of activity, in mid-to-late 2024.
The northern lights in 2024 are set to be the best in 20 years.
When the sun is active, it releases strong solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or large clouds of ionized gas called plasma and magnetic fields that erupt from the sun’s outer atmosphere. The solar storms generated by the sun can affect electric power grids, GPS and aviation, and satellites in low-Earth orbit. These events also cause radio blackouts and even pose risks for crewed space missions.
The Space Weather Prediction Center, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, will be closely monitoring the sun and release warnings and predictions about solar activity that could impact Earth.
Scientists are eagerly anticipating what they could learn about the sun’s activity by observing it during April’s total solar eclipse.
A more positive side effect of increased solar activity, however, is the auroras that dance around Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and southern lights, or aurora australis.
When the energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored lights in the sky.
Geomagnetic storms driven by the sun in 2023 caused auroras to be visible in places where they are rarely seen, including as far south as New Mexico, Missouri, North Carolina and California in the United States, and the southeast of England and other parts of the United Kingdom.
Depending on the location, the auroras may not always be visible overhead, but they create a colorful display on the horizon.
