2020
Out of context: Reply #124
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Scientists say the sun has entered a new 25-year cycle and will enter a period marked by more sunspots and eruptions.
The sun's activity has been ramping up over the past nine months as it moves out of a minimum period of activity, experts from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) say.
The sun alternates between 11-year periods of higher and lower activity and the star passed its lowest point of activity in December 2019.
However, the next 25-year solar cycle is likely to be "just as tame" as the previous cycle, the institute predicted, with the most active period expected between November 2024 and March 2026.
What happens on the surface of the sun also affects the Earth.
"In phases of high activity, violent bursts of particles and radiation from the sun can also make themselves felt on Earth," MPS scientist Robert Cameron said.
In the worst case, solar storms cause technical systems, such as satellites, to fail. Astronauts can also be harmed.