solar cycle

Eleven-year pattern

A solar cycle is the roughly eleven-year period during which the sun's activity rises and falls.

Sunspot numbers, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections peak at solar maximum and decline to solar minimum.

These cycles affect space weather, satellite operations, and radio communications on Earth: We're entering a period of high solar cycle activity.

solar physics

corona

Star's outermost atmosphere

sunspots

photosphere

Star's light-emitting surface

  • umbraComplete shadow region
  • penumbraRegion of partial illumination
  • plageSeaside bathing area
space weather

geomagnetic storm

Magnetosphere disruption from solar activity

ionosphere · radio blackouts · Carrington event · Kp index · charged particles

eruptions

prominence

Notable status or visibility

periodicity

oscillation

Repeated back-and-forth movement

  • rhythmPatterned stress and silence
  • phaseDistinct period in sequence
  • intervalDuration between two points

recurrence · regularity · cadence · epoch · harmonic

Categories
Opposites
celestial body/driver

solar cyclelunar cycle

Moon's orbital period

lunar phase · moon cycle · tidal cycle · Milankovitch cycles · planetary alignment

periodicity/regularity

solar cyclesolar flare

Magnetic eruption from sunspots

solar storm

temporal scale

solar cyclecircadian rhythm

Built-in sleep-wake cycle

seasonal cycle · annual cycle · cosmic cycle

Family

circle, cycle, solar, cycling, cyclic, cyclical, cyclist, solstice, solarium

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