Has the Sun’s activity increased or decreased in the last few years? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the most recent 11-year Sun cycle and what behavior it’s been exhibiting. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the solar activity and how we can predict space weather, which can wreak havoc on satellites and ground stations.
For the study, the researchers analyzed solar wind data obtained from several spacecraft between 2008 and 2025 to ascertain solar cycle activity and future trends. As noted, the solar cycle lasts approximately 11 years that involves changes in the number of sunspots, which indicates solar wind activity. In the end, the researchers were surprised to discover that recent predictions were wrong about the Sun’s activity weakening, when in fact it’s increasing.
“All signs were pointing to the Sun going into a prolonged phase of low activity,” said Dr. Jamie Jasinski, who is a space plasma physicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of the study. “So, it was a surprise to see that trend reversed. The Sun is slowly waking up.”
Going forward, the researchers note that future observations will continue to monitor the Sun’s activity and whether this increasing trend will continue or if the data stays the same.
As noted, scientists monitor space weather with the goal of protecting orbiting satellites and ground stations, as solar wind contains charged particles that damage electronics. The most severe case of solar activity damaging ground stations was the Carrington Event in September 1859 when solar winds created worldwide aurorae and damaged telegraph wires while literally electrocuting their human operators.
What new insights about the Sun’s cycle will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, NASA, Wikipedia
Featured Image: The Sun imaged by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on September 9, 2025. (Credit: NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory)