Solar activity is rapidly falling to the bottom

The Sun is experiencing a rapid decline in activity, associated with the retreat to the far side of the star of the large sunspot group 4366, which raged opposite Earth in early February. Currently, only two noteworthy active regions remain on the Sun, which now form the two eyes of a huge smiley face, 1.5 million kilometers across. Neither region is generating energy—not a single flare, even the weakest, has occurred over the past 12 hours. The main intrigue is whether the activity index will drop to zero by the end of the week or reverse course. However, it is still completely unclear what could prevent solar activity from plummeting to rock bottom.

The last time zero solar activity was recorded was in April 2024. However, just a month after this event, in May 2024, one of the strongest solar activity surges in history occurred, accompanied by the only major magnetic storm on Earth in 20 years.