The solar cycle as a research area focuses on the quasi-periodic (~11-year) modulation of solar magnetic activity and its physical drivers, modeling, and impacts. It encompasses the study of dynamo processes in the solar interior, emergence and evolution of magnetic flux, sunspot number variability, and associated phenomena such as flares and coronal mass ejections. Researchers investigate cycle prediction methods, long-term modulation (e.g., grand minima and maxima), and coupling between solar radiative, particulate, and magnetic outputs and the heliosphere, planetary space weather, and climate-relevant upper-atmospheric processes, using observations, theory, and magnetohydrodynamic simulations.
Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi have uncovered new clues about how energy moves through the sun's outer atmosphere, using one of nature's rarest events as their window: total solar eclipses. Drawing on more than ...
Astronomy
Feb 18, 2026
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For the first time, scientists have used satellite data to create a 3D map of the sun's interior magnetic field, the fundamental driver of solar activity. The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, should ...
Research conducted by an international team of astronomers from Southwest Research Institute, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences in India and the Max Planck Institute in Germany could help predict upcoming ...
Astronomy
Jan 20, 2026
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485
The sun is governed by a strict rhythm. The magnetic activity of the sun displays a cyclic variation, reaching a maximum approximately every eleven years. Two enormous plasma circulations, each in one solar hemisphere, set ...
Astronomy
Nov 5, 2025
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121
Scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) have uncovered the intricate magnetic heartbeat of a distant star remarkably similar to our own sun—but much younger and more active. This study, part of ...
Astronomy
Oct 10, 2025
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106
The sun has become increasingly active since 2008, a new NASA study shows. Solar activity is known to fluctuate in cycles of 11 years, but there are longer-term variations that can last decades. Case in point: Since the 1980s, ...
Astronomy
Sep 15, 2025
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128
Most places on Earth have seasons because our planet is on a tilt as it orbits the sun. But our star also has its own version of seasons that affect life on Earth—and new astronomical research is helping us better understand ...
Astronomy
Sep 10, 2025
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NASA has launched Surya, its new heliophysics artificial intelligence foundation model to empower solar scientists with tools to enhance research and space weather forecasting. Southwest Research Institute's Dr. Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 26, 2025
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Solar Maximum 2025 is the expected peak of solar activity in Solar Cycle 25, characterized by heightened sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. This peak is anticipated around mid to late 2025, coinciding with ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 7, 2025
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144
A trio of heliophysicists and satellite trackers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute at the University of Maryland has found evidence showing that Starlink satellites reenter ...
