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Spatial weather triggered by activity in the sun follows an 11-year cycle of solar minimum and solar maximum. During solar minima, activity on burning sun drops and sunspots as well as solar flares are less common. On the other hand, when the Sun reaches its maximum point, hundreds of sunspots can appear on the Sun and release energy jets on the Earth. According to NASA, the Sun is approaching its next cycle – the weakest it has known for 200 years.
NASA expects the next cycle to begin in 2020, followed by a solar maximum in 2025.
It is essential to be able to accurately predict the most active years of the Sun, now that NASA has decided to send astronauts back to the Moon.
When the sun is in turmoil, dangerous amounts of space radiation pass through space and head for the Earth.
Spatial radiation can paralyze satellite networks, disrupt power grids, and even threaten missions to the moon.
READ MORE: A devastating space weather could hit Earth by 2020, warns NASA
NASA said: "The ability to anticipate this type of event is becoming increasingly important as NASA prepares to send the first woman and the next man to the moon as part of the Artemis program.
"Current research may have found a new reliable method for predicting this solar activity.
"The activity of the sun increases and decreases every 11 years. According to forecasts for the next solar cycle, it will be the lowest of the last 200 years.
"The maximum of this next cycle – measured in terms of number of sunspots, a standard measure of the level of solar activity – could be 30 to 50% lower than that of the most recent one.
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"The results show that the next cycle will start in 2020 and reach its peak in 2025."
The danger is real: in 1972, NASA declared that a powerful explosion of radiation swept the space just between the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 Moon landings.
On Earth, the natural magnetic fields of the planet protect us from the effects of space radiation and solar activity.
In space, however, there is no natural barrier against the power of cosmic radiation.
READ MORE: Will a 1,200 foot asteroid named after CHAOS God land on Earth by 2020?
During maximum sunlight, sunspots on the surface of the sun appear as visible black spots.
Sunspots mark areas along the surface of the sun where magnetic fields "thousands of times more powerful than those of the Earth" converge.
Sunspots can last from a few hours to a few days at a time.
NASA said: "Fewer of them at the point of maximum solar activity mean less harmful radiation."
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