Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center
Sunspots and solar flares are expected to intensify between January and OctoberNasa Goddard Space Flight CenterIf the internet goes down or the power goes out in the coming months, it may not be the fault of the service provider or extreme weather. The cause could lie 150 million kilometers away. The Sun is expected to reach its peak of activity, called the solar maximum, between January and October 2024, according to the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The phenomenon, which occurs roughly every 11 years and causes more frequent and intense sunspots on the surface of Earth’s closest star, is expected to be stronger and longer than was predicted in 2019 and to take place a year earlier. In 1989, intense solar flares left residents of Quebec, Canada, without electricity for about 12 hours. The same solar energetic particles directed towards the Earth’s poles are also the cause of the beautiful aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere and aurora australis in the South, created when they collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere (LiveScience, June 24; NOAA, October 25; Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, November 28).
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