All Signs Were Pointing To Decreased Activity, But NASA Says "The Sun Is Slowly Waking Up"

A new NASA study has found that the Sun's activity is ramping up, reversing the trend and surprising astronomers. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Humans have known about sunspots since around 800 BCE , when ancient Chinese astronomers recorded observations of them in I Ching, the Book of Changes.

"Sunspots are areas where the magnetic field is about 2,500 times stronger than Earth's, much higher than anywhere else on the Sun," the National Weather Service explains . "Because of the strong magnetic field, the magnetic pressure increases while the surrounding atmospheric pressure decreases. This in turn lowers the temperature relative to its surroundings because the concentrated magnetic field inhibits the flow of ho