The sun has many unusual sunspots that have shocked and surprised astronomers.

From a distance, the Sun appears calm, shining its radiant light that nourishes all life on Earth. But up close, the Sun is a chaotic battlefield that astrophysicists didn’t expect until about a year ago.

"We didn't think the Sun would be this active during this particular cycle, but the observations say otherwise," said Andrew Gerrard, dean and director of the Center for Sun-Earth Studies at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

We are at the peak of the Sun's activity cycle.

A solar cycle typically occurs every 11 years. During that time, solar activity fluctuates from minimum to maximum, with maximum activity peaking in the middle of the cycle when the Sun's magnetic field reverses.

The most recent solar cycle was from 2008 to 2019. We are now in the middle of the current solar cycle and approaching maximum magnetic activity.

The increased magnetic activity of the Sun has grown so strong over the past few years that it is choking off energy from deep within the Sun, preventing it from reaching the surface. This causes colder pockets on the Sun's surface to appear as dark spots, known as sunspots.

Sunspots are appearing more and more.

Sunspots are appearing more and more.

Scientists like Gerrard can tell how active the Sun is by counting sunspots, which have been at record highs for about a year now.

Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Institute (NOAA) announced that preliminary observations had detected 299 sunspots, all within a 24-hour period. That number is the highest daily sunspot count in more than 22 years.

Tracking sunspots is important because they are the source of large solar flares (classified as X-class) and massive eruptions called coronal mass ejections. These eruptions can pose a threat to Earth, causing radio and power grid blackouts, disrupting GPS navigation, and even sending space satellites into freefall.

Not all sunspots cause an eruption, and when they do, not all eruptions pose a threat because the energy jets may not pass through Earth, said Alex James, a solar physicist at University College London. However, learning to predict solar storms in advance is an important field because it can give us more time to prepare.

The Sun is More Active Than We Thought

X-type solar flares and coronal mass ejections are beautiful to watch. But when they explode, they hurl beams of high-energy particles into space at thousands of miles per hour. If they pass by Earth, those particles can interact with our planet’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere, causing geomagnetic storms.

Geomagnetic storms can produce stunning northern and southern lights. In the northern hemisphere, these colorful displays have been appearing farther south than usual recently, even in states like Texas and Colorado. That’s because of increased solar activity.

But Gerrard said those high-energy particles are like “viruses” that can cause all sorts of chaos in the high-frequency radio emissions used by the military, airlines and GPS systems.

Since January, geomagnetic storms have caused radio blackouts across four continents: North and South America, Europe and Africa.

This could cause GPS to malfunction or even cause power grid failures. It is particularly problematic for aviation because aviation authorities will never allow aircraft to take off without ensuring radio and satellite communications.

Another concern is spacecraft. "If there's a coronal mass ejection and that material hits Earth, it's going to make the density in the Earth's upper atmosphere higher. And that's going to create more drag, and more drag is going to pull the spacecraft down," Gerrard said.

In February 2022, a geomagnetic storm contributed to the 38 Starlink satellites falling from their original orbits to lower transfer orbits. Scientists suspect that the lower orbits combined with a geomagnetic storm caused them to fall to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

And last May, the biggest geomagnetic storm in two decades hit Earth, disrupting Starlink service. Thankfully, no satellites fell out of orbit during that storm.

Solar activity is at its peak

Solar activity is expected to continue to increase until it reaches a peak of activity, which scientists call solar maximum .

“ Current predictions suggest that solar maximum will occur in the second half of 2025, but we will only really know when the maximum actually occurs after activity starts to decline again,” James said.

Although this cycle's solar maximum is predicted to be stronger than scientists initially predicted, it is still about average in the broader historical context, according to Mathew Owens, professor of astrophysics at the University of Reading.

However, James says we are more vulnerable to solar maximums than ever because of our increasing reliance on satellite technology.