Has the Sun risen early on its next solar cycle?

The Sun might be beginning to enter its next 11-year solar cycle halfway through its current one according to new research.

Solar cycles are a measure of the activity of our solar system’s central star. The peak about halfway through a cycle is known as the solar maximum. We are currently in the solar maximum of Cycle 25 – the 25th since records of solar cycles began in 1755.

During times of solar maximum, astronomers notice more sunspots, flares and coronal mass ejections. Such events can result in surges of electromagnetic radiation and high-energy charged particles being shot toward Earth at high speed.

This can cause the aurora in low latitudes, but can also play havoc with electrical systems vital for society in orbit around Earth.

Cycle 25’s solar maximum was expected to continue into 2025 with the cycle not due to complete for another 6 years. But it seems the Sun is already beginning to show signs of its next cycle according to astronomers at the University of Birmingham, UK.

The researchers presented their findings at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting in Hull in northern England. They claim to have found evidence that solar cycle 26 is beginning.

Oscillations deep within the Sun caused by its rotation emanate outward. Reaching the surface, these oscillations cause a visible pattern of bands which rotate slightly faster or slower. These bands move toward the Sun’s equator and poles during the cycle. Faster rotation belts tend to show up just before the next solar cycle officially begins.

This is what the Birmingham astronomers believe they have seen – at least faintly.

“We’re likely seeing the first traces of Cycle 26, which won’t officially start until about 2030,” says Dr Rachel Howe.

Howe has been tracking the Sun’s rotation for about 25 years. Astronomers now have data from cycles 23, 24 and 25 to compare.

“If you go back one solar cycle – 11 years – on the plot, you can see something similar that seems to join up with the shape that we saw in 2017. It went on to be a feature of the present solar cycle, Cycle 25,” Howe says.

“It’s exciting to see the first hint that the pattern will repeat again in Cycle 26, which is due to start in about six years,” she says. “With more data, I hope we can understand more about the part these flows play in the intricate dance of plasma and magnetic fields that form the solar cycle.”