{"id":284114,"date":"2024-02-23T17:05:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T11:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=284114"},"modified":"2024-02-23T17:05:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T11:35:23","slug":"solar-maximum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/solar-maximum\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Maximum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Source<\/strong>-This post on<strong> Solar Maximum<\/strong> has been created based on the article &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/sun-surface-solar-maximum-approaches-photo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>See the sun&#8217;s surface rage as solar maximum approaches<\/strong><\/a>&#8221; published in &#8220;<strong>SPACE<\/strong>&#8221; on 22 February 2024.<\/p>\n<h2>Why in the news?<\/h2>\n<p>A new visualization from the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently shown the increase in activity on the sun&#8217;s surface as it approaches solar maximum this year.<\/p>\n<h2>About Solar Maximum<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_284146\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-284146\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-284146\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Solar-Maximum.png?resize=300%2C203&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Solar Maximum\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Solar-Maximum.png?resize=300%2C203&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Solar-Maximum.png?w=603&amp;ssl=1 603w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-284146\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source-SPACE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>1) The sun goes through a <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">natural solar cycle<\/span> approximately every <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">11 years<\/span>. The cycle is marked by the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">increase<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">decrease<\/span> of <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">sunspots<span style=\"color: #333333;\">,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #333333;\">which are<\/span> <\/span>visible as dark blemishes on the sun&#8217;s surface.<\/p>\n<p>2) The <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">greatest number of sunspots<\/span> in any given solar cycle is designated as &#8220;solar maximum.&#8221; Solar maximum occurs roughly in the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">middle<\/span> of each cycle.<\/p>\n<p>3) As the sun approaches the solar maximum, more <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">brilliant explosions<\/span>, dark sunspots, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">loops of plasma<\/span>, and swirls of super-hot gas are observed.<\/p>\n<h2>What is the impact of Solar Maximum?<\/h2>\n<p>1) The increased solar activity can caus<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">e<\/span> extreme space weather events<\/span>, including solar flares and eruptions.<\/p>\n<p>2) It can also disrupt <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">radio communications<\/span> and the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">power grid<\/span> and have serious health consequences for astronauts.<\/p>\n<h2>What are Sunspots?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Description<\/strong>&#8211; These are areas that<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> appear dark on the surface of the Sun<\/span> (photosphere). They appear dark because they are<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> cooler<\/span> than other parts of the Sun\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Size-<\/strong> These can be as large as <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">50,000 km<\/span> in diameter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Strength of magnetic field<\/strong>&#8211; These are relatively cool because they are formed at areas where magnetic fields are <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">particularly strong.<\/span> These magnetic fields are so strong that they keep some of the heat within the Sun<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> from reaching the surface<\/span>. The magnetic field in such areas is about<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> 2,500 times stronger<\/span> than Earth\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Region<\/strong>&#8211; These consist of a dark region called the \u2018<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">umbra<\/span>\u2019, which is surrounded by a lighter region called the \u2018<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">penumbra<\/span>\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Impact<\/strong>&#8211; These can cause disturbances such as <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">solar flares<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">coronal mass ejections<\/span> (CMEs).<\/p>\n<p>Read more about- <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/question\/with-reference-to-solar-flares-storms-consider-the-following-statements-1-solar-storms-are-magnetic-plasma-ejected-at-great-speed-from-the-solar-surface-2-all-solar-flares-reach-earth-but-only\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Solar flares<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>UPSC Syllabus-Science &amp; Technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source-This post on Solar Maximum has been created based on the article &#8220;See the sun&#8217;s surface rage as solar maximum approaches&#8221; published in &#8220;SPACE&#8221; on 22 February 2024. Why in the news? A new visualization from the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently shown the increase in activity on the sun&#8217;s surface as it approaches&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/solar-maximum\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Solar Maximum<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10374,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,1],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-284114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-uncategorized","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10374"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}