Stunning sightings of the Northern Lights became a common occurrence over the last year - but 2025 is due to be even more spectacular. The Met Office says the lights will be visible farther south more frequently next year because of a shift in the sun’s magnetic fields.
Solar maximum refers to the highest rate of solar activity during its approximately 11-year solar cycle. The last solar maximum was reached in April 2014 and this autumn NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center announced that they understood the sun has entered its solar maximum period.
The affect on earth is not seen immediately. It should be next spring and summer when people could see this additional space activity.
Krista Hammond, a Manager at the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC), said: “Activity on the sun, and in particular the number of visible sunspots, varies over roughly an 11-year period, known as the solar cycle.”
The last solar minimum – when the Sun had the lowest frequency of visible sunspots in the solar cycle – occurred in December 2019. Krista added: “As we continue towards the solar maximum, we can expect to see an increase in the frequency of space weather events, with more chances to see the Aurora Borealis over the UK.”
MOSWOC said: "Despite the somewhat predictable nature of the 11-year solar cycle, forecasting specific space weather events can be more challenging, as you might expect when predicting an event on Earth that begins on the Sun around 150 million kilometres away.
"Solar flares are sudden releases of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. They are hard to predict, and the energy can be detected in Earth’s atmosphere as soon as 8.5 minutes after the occurrence of a solar flare.
"Linked with large flares, solar radiation storms may also occur. These consist of high-energy charged particles, predominantly electrons and protons, and typically take between ten minutes and several hours to arrive at Earth.
"Coronal mass ejections (CME) are often associated with flares and are a focus of space weather forecasting. They can take days to reach the Earth and can disturb the Earth’s magnetic field and ionosphere, which is where the Earth’s atmosphere meets space, causing what is known as a geomagnetic storm.
"Strong geomagnetic storms have the potential to impact GPS, radio frequencies and some satellite operations but forecasting their arrival can give industries time to mitigate against the worst impacts. They are also the phenomena responsible for the enhanced Aurora Borealis in the Northern Hemisphere or Aurora Australis in the Southern Hemisphere."
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