"Astronomers had predicted that our host star was entering a period of relative quiet back in 2008, but NASA scientists have published a new study in The Astrophysical Journal Letters that found that the Sun has instead defied expectations by becoming more active, with increased sunspots and solar flares. "All signs were pointing to the Sun going into a prolonged phase of low activity," said the study lead author and NASA physicist Jamie Jasinski in a statement about the paper."
"The Sun has long been known to go through periodic cycles of activity every 11 years, called a solar cycle, when it becomes more active - eventually reaching a "solar maximum," in astronomy parlance - before powering down to a "solar minimum." The 11-year period is part of a longer cycle, dubbed the Extended Solar Cycle or Hale cycle, that averages around 22 years, and in which the Sun's magnetic poles reverse."
The Sun's surface quieted from the 1980s through 2008, when it registered its weakest recorded activity; after 2008 the Sun reversed course and became more active. Plasma and magnetic-field parameters rose and sunspot counts and solar flares increased, exceeding prior expectations for continued quiet. Solar activity follows roughly 11-year cycles that culminate in solar maximum and return to solar minimum, embedded within a 22-year Hale cycle during which the Sun's magnetic poles flip. The Sun has also experienced much longer quiet intervals historically, for example 1645–1715 and 1790–1830, with very few sunspots.
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