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Solar minimum is the regular period of least solar activity in the Sun's 11-year solar cycle. During solar minimum, sunspot and solar flare activity diminishes, and often does not occur for days at a time. On average, the solar cycle takes about 11 years to go from one solar minimum to the next, with duration observed varying from 9 to 14 years.
Solar cycles are nearly periodic 11-year changes in the Sun's activity that are based on the number of sunspots present on the Sun's surface. The first solar cycle conventionally is said to have started in 1755.
Solar irradiance varies systematically over the cycle, [69] both in total irradiance and in its relative components (UV vs visible and other frequencies). The solar luminosity is an estimated 0.07 percent brighter during the mid-cycle solar maximum than the terminal solar minimum.
The sun has an 11-year cycle, where it builds from a quiet, placid minimum to a roaring maximum, then dies back down. ... The sun at solar minimum (left, December 2019) versus solar maximum (right ...
The Maunder Minimum occurred within the Little Ice Age, a long period (c. 1300 – c. 1850) of lower-than-average European temperatures. [9] The reduced solar activity may have contributed to the climatic cooling, although the cooling began before the solar minimum and its primary cause is believed to be volcanic activity. [10]
While intense activity such as sunspots and solar flares subside during solar minimum, that doesn’t mean the sun becomes dull.
Following the peak, solar activity slows down, according to NASA, growing less and less until the solar minimum. At that point, a new solar cycle begins as solar activity rebounds.
Solar cycle 25 is the current solar cycle, the 25th since 1755, when extensive recording of solar sunspot activity began. It began in December 2019 with a minimum smoothed sunspot number of 1.8. [ 2 ]