On January 4, 2008 a new sunspot appeared on the sun which signaled the start of Solar Cycle 24. Sunspots are just spots on the sun, but they always come with solar winds which hit the magnetic field of the Earth and can cause so-called “geomagnetic storms”, which can lead to power outages. Scientists at the NASA are pretty good at predicting these solar cycles, so they knew that this cycle will start soon and will peak around 2012. And so the cycle started some days ago.
A really nice side-effect of the so far most powerful solar cycle (since recording started in 1868), is the Aurora phenomenon which is expected to be seen by more people than ever before within the next 4 – 6 years.
(taken in Norway)
(taken in Iceland)
I am looking forward to catch an Aurora soon… hopefully in northern Québec!
More infos:
– More information from the NASA
– More photos taken on January 5, 2008 (some are from Québec !!!)