Sunspot Marks The Start Of New Solar Cycle

Sunspot marks the start of new solar cycle

According to Emily Baldwin, posted on March 4th, 2008 the new year welcomed the beginning of a new solar cycle, with the first sunspot of Cycle 24 observed on January 4th. The prior solar cycle, Cycle 23, has been winding down for several years, with hardly any sunspot movement at all. Cycle 24 has been slow getting on track compared to the average over the last few cycles. Just before the end of 2007, a modest patch of magnetism was spotted on the Sun's eastern limb, although no sunspot was accompanying it at this time. New solar cycles always begin with a high-latitude, reversed polarity sunspot. High latitude refers to the Sun's grid of latitude and longitude. However, Solar Cycle 23 has not yet ended, and it may run simultaneously with the new cycle for up to a year while sunspots from the old cycle become less frequent.

Sunspots become visible in couples and are examined as darker, cooler areas on the Sun's surface. They are formed when magnetic fields born deep within the Sun break out to the surface and loop over; the feet of the two ends of the loop mark the location of the sunspots where the field lines cross the surface. Around each sunspot pair is a zone of active magnetic activity, which can give rise to several generations of sunspots. The sunspots drift towards the equator as the Sun rotates, winding up the magnetic field lines at a rate of 25 days at the equator and 35 days at the poles. It's thought that Cycle 23 was so slow because the magnetic activity didn't descend to the equator as quickly as usual, prolonging the cycle and possibly leading to a slow starting Cycle 24.

It is not yet positive how active Cycle 24 will be, but it is thought that the quicker the new cycle takes over the currently waning cycle, the more probable it will be a strong season with many sunspots and solar storms. During a solar storm, highly charged