Solar maximum refers to the highest rate of solar activity during the sun's approximately 11-year solar cycle. So we can expect more vibrant aurora displays.
Solar maximum relates to the intensity and frequency of sunspots visible on the surface and representatives from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has announced that the sun has entered its solar maximum period which could continue for another year.
While many experts suspected that this was the case, the official confirmation comes as a big surprise given that researchers normally hold off on making such announcements until after this active phase starts winding down, reports Live Science.
"This announcement doesn't mean that this is the peak of solar activity we'll see this solar cycle," says Elsayed Talaat, director of space weather operations at NOAA. Solar activity could still increase in the coming months, bringing more vibrant aurora displays.
Many scientists already speculated that solar maximum had begun earlier this year. However, official announcements normally wait until months after solar activity starts to ramp down to announce exactly when a solar maximum began. The unusually early announcement may have been prompted by a series of extreme space weather events over the last few weeks and months.
The number of X-class solar flares - the most powerful explosions the sun can produce - has also exceeded any other year on modern record (since 1996), according to SpaceWeatherLive.com. The most powerful of these solar outbursts was an X9 magnitude blast on 3 October, which was the most explosive flare since 2017.