Will 2026 bring strong auroras? What the sun's recent activity tells us

Three images next to each other, with a close up of the sun on the left, a red and green northern lights display on the top right and a close up of Earth in the bottom right of the image.

Activity on the sun is not constant; it varies along a cycle of about 11 years. The peak of this solar cycle — called solar maximum — is when sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the most frequent. At the bottom of the cycle, called solar minimum, these phenomena may be absent for months at a time.

We are currently midway through Solar Cycle 25, the 25th solar cycle since the naming convention began back with Solar Cycle 1 in 1755. Solar Cycle 25 officially began at the last solar minimum in December 2019.