# Where are we in the solar cycle? > The Sun's rhythm of sunspots, flares and storms: where Solar Cycle 25 stands, when it peaked, when Cycle 26 may begin, and the record since 1749. HTML: https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/the-sun/solar-cycle Numbers as of 2026-10-31 03:42 UTC. Live ones keep changing on the HTML page. We are past the peak of Solar Cycle 25 and on the way down. The cycle began in December 2019 and peaked in October 2024, by the smoothed sunspot number, at 160.9. The latest monthly sunspot number is 60.3. NOAA expects Cycle 26 to begin some time between January 2029 and December 2032. Until then the Sun will grow quieter, though big flares and storms can still come. - Sunspot number, 13-month smoothed (latest available month): 94.4 - The Sun's X-ray brightness at Earth (GOES, 0.1–0.8 nm): B2.0 - Planetary K-index (Kp), latest 3-hour value: 3 - Time since the last major solar flare (class M or X): 12 days ## The Sun's slow heartbeat What is the solar cycle? The Sun is a star: a ball of hot gas held together by its own gravity and lit by fusion in its core. The gas is electrically charged, and its churning makes the Sun's magnetic field. That field is never still. Where the field pushes up through the surface, we see sunspots: dark patches, a little cooler than the gas around them. The number of spots rises and falls in a rhythm that lasts about 11 years on average, though single cycles run shorter or longer. At solar minimum there are few spots or none. At solar maximum the Sun is crowded with them, and flares and eruptions are common. Each cycle also turns the Sun's magnetism upside down. Once in every cycle, its north and south magnetic poles swap places. So the full magnetic rhythm, back to where it began, takes two cycles. ## Solar Cycle 25 Where we are Cycles are numbered from Cycle 1, which began in 1755. The cycle we live in now, Solar Cycle 25, began in December 2019, when the smoothed sunspot number reached its low. It climbed faster and higher than expected. In 2019 a panel of NOAA, NASA and international experts had forecast a smaller peak, in July 2025. The smoothed number peaked in October 2024 at 160.9, about 1.4 times the peak of the cycle before. Near the top, on 10 May 2024, an extreme geomagnetic storm brought the aurora far from the poles. The latest monthly sunspot number is 60.3. Monthly numbers jump about, so the cycle is judged by a 13-month average instead. That smoothed number is now 94.4, and it always runs some months behind, because it needs months of data on either side. ## What comes next Cycle 26 We are on the long slope down from the peak. NOAA updates its forecast for the rest of Cycle 25 every month, from the numbers observed so far. It does not yet forecast Cycle 26, but it expects the new cycle to begin some time between January 2029 and December 2032. A new cycle shows itself in a particular way. Its first sunspots appear far from the Sun's equator, with their magnetic poles the other way round from the old cycle's spots. Because the smoothed number needs months of data on either side, the start of Cycle 26 will be named only well after it has happened. And a quieter Sun is not a sleeping one. Flares and storms grow rarer, but they do not stop. ## Counting since 1749 The long record People have watched sunspots through telescopes since the early 1600s. Monthly counts go back to 1749, and today the Royal Observatory of Belgium keeps the record. No two cycles in it are alike. The strongest, Cycle 19, peaked in March 1958 at a smoothed number of 285.0. Cycle 24, which ended in 2019, peaked at only 116.4, the weakest since the early 1900s. The record also holds a puzzle. From about 1645 to 1715, sunspots almost vanished. Astronomers were watching, so the gap is real, not a hole in the notes. This quiet spell is called the Maunder minimum. It came during a cold period called the Little Ice Age, when rivers that are normally free of ice froze over. How much the quiet Sun had to do with that is still being studied. ## What the cycle changes for us Back to Earth Near maximum, the Sun throws out more flares and more coronal mass ejections, vast clouds of charged gas. When one reaches Earth, it can shake the magnetic field we live inside. That shaking is a geomagnetic storm. NOAA expects about 1,700 minor storms in an average cycle, and about 4 extreme ones. Storms bring the aurora far from the poles. They can also strain power grids and disturb satellites and GPS. Strong flares, more common near maximum, can black out shortwave radio on the daylit side of Earth. The latest storm reading is “No storm”. The cycle even changes how long satellites last. Near maximum, the drag on satellites in low orbit grows, so they come down sooner. That is one reason satellite operators watch NOAA's forecast. ## FAQ ### Where are we in the solar cycle right now? On the way down from the peak of Solar Cycle 25. The cycle began in December 2019 and peaked in October 2024. The latest monthly sunspot number is 60.3. ### Is solar maximum over? Yes, by the smoothed sunspot number: it peaked in October 2024 at 160.9. The Sun is still active on the way down, and big flares and storms can still happen. ### When will Solar Cycle 26 start? NOAA expects it to begin some time between January 2029 and December 2032. Scientists will only be sure months afterwards, once the smoothed sunspot number has turned upward. ### How long is a solar cycle? About 11 years on average, from one minimum to the next. Single cycles have been shorter or longer. The Sun's magnetic poles swap with each cycle, so its full magnetic cycle takes two. ### What was the Maunder minimum? A spell from about 1645 to 1715 when sunspots almost disappeared. The Sun was well observed then, so the lack of spots is real. It came during the cold period called the Little Ice Age. ### Does the solar cycle affect the aurora? Yes. Near solar maximum there are more eruptions and more geomagnetic storms, so the aurora is seen more often and farther from the poles. Strong storms can still come at other times. ## Related - [What is the Sun doing right now?](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/the-sun/what-is-the-sun-doing-now.md) - [Geomagnetic storms](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/space-weather/geomagnetic-storms.md) - [How hot is the Sun?](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/the-sun/how-hot-is-the-sun.md) - [How big is the Sun?](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/the-sun/how-big-is-the-sun.md) Every one of us was born somewhere in a solar cycle. Which one was yours, and was the Sun busy or quiet that year? ## Sources - Average length of the Sun's activity cycle (Measured, with error): [NOAA SWPC: NOAA Space Weather Scales](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation); [Living Reviews in Solar Physics: The Solar Cycle (Hathaway 2015; arXiv:1502.07020)](https://doi.org/10.1007/lrsp-2015-4); [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html) - Diameter of a regulation football (size 5) (Measured, with error): [The IFAB: Laws of the Game, Law 2 – The Ball](https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/the-ball/) - Earth's diameter at the equator (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Extreme (G5) geomagnetic storms in an average solar cycle (Estimated): [NOAA SWPC: NOAA Space Weather Scales](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation); [USGS: May 10, 2024 Magnetic Disturbance (peak Dst -351 nT)](https://www.usgs.gov/programs/geomagnetism/science/may-10-2024-magnetic-disturbance-peak-dst-351-nt) - Highest smoothed sunspot number of Solar Cycle 19 (13-month mean, March 1958), the highest on record (Measured, with error): [WDC-SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium: Solar cycles: minima and maxima of the 13-month smoothed monthly total sunspot number (TableCyclesMiMa)](https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/DATA/Cycles/TableCyclesMiMa.txt); [WDC-SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium: 13-month smoothed monthly total sunspot number (SN_ms_tot_V2.0)](https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/DATA/SN_ms_tot_V2.0.txt) - Highest smoothed sunspot number of Solar Cycle 24 (13-month mean, April 2014) (Measured, with error): [NOAA SWPC: Sunspots/Solar Cycle](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/sunspotssolar-cycle) - Highest smoothed sunspot number of Solar Cycle 25 (13-month mean, October 2024) (Measured, with error): [SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium: Solar Cycle 25 reached its maximum in October 2024](https://sidc.be/article/solar-cycle-25-reached-its-maximum-october-2024) - Minor (G1) geomagnetic storms in an average solar cycle (Estimated): [NOAA SWPC: NOAA Space Weather Scales](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation) - Planetary K-index (Kp), latest 3-hour value (Measured, with error): [NOAA SWPC: Planetary K-index](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index); [NOAA SWPC: NOAA Space Weather Scales](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation) - Sunspot number, 13-month smoothed (latest available month) (Measured, with error): [NOAA SWPC: Observed solar cycle indices](https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/solar-cycle/observed-solar-cycle-indices.json) - Sunspot number, monthly mean (latest month) (Measured, with error): [NOAA SWPC: Observed solar cycle indices](https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/solar-cycle/observed-solar-cycle-indices.json); [SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium: SILSO data files](https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/datafiles) - The International Space Station's orbital speed (Measured): [NASA: Station Facts](https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-facts-and-figures/) - The Moon's average distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA: Moon Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/moon/facts/) - The Sun's distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html) - The Sun's X-ray brightness at Earth (GOES, 0.1–0.8 nm) (Measured): [NOAA SWPC: Solar Flares (Radio Blackouts)](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-flares-radio-blackouts) - Time since Solar Cycle 25 began (Measured): [NASA: Solar Cycle 25 Is Here. NASA, NOAA Scientists Explain What That Means (release 20-089)](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/solar-cycle-25-is-here-nasa-noaa-scientists-explain-what-that-means/) - Time since Solar Cycle 25 peaked (Measured, with error): [SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium: Solar Cycle 25 reached its maximum in October 2024](https://sidc.be/article/solar-cycle-25-reached-its-maximum-october-2024); [NASA Science: NASA, NOAA: Sun Reaches Maximum Phase in 11-Year Solar Cycle (15 October 2024)](https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-noaa-sun-reaches-maximum-phase-in-11-year-solar-cycle/) - Time since the last major solar flare (class M or X) (Measured, with error): [NOAA SWPC: GOES X-ray Flux](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/goes-x-ray-flux) - Time since the May 2024 storm reached G5 (Measured): [NOAA SWPC: G5 Conditions Observed!](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g5-conditions-observed)