The recurring increase and decrease in the number of sunspots over a period averaging about eleven years.
typically, around the end of each sunspot cycle, the sun's magnetic fields switch direction
Example sentencesExamples
The solar wind is very closely linked to the 11 year solar sunspot cycle and solar flares.
These events occur during the peak of the Sun's eleven-year sunspot cycle.
Between the mid-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the sunspot cycle shut down, reducing solar output by a mere 0.25 percent.
When the sun is more active at and around the sunspot cycle maximum, the solar wind tends to be stronger.
A solar cycle later, the polarity switches back again, so that the complete magnetic cycle requires two sunspot cycles or 22 years.
Sunspots have been observed for over two millennia, varying in number with a period of 11 years, and we have just experienced a maximum in the sunspot cycle.
Definition of sunspot cycle in US English:
sunspot cycle
noun
Astronomy
The recurring increase and decrease in the number of sunspots over a period averaging about eleven years.
typically, around the end of each sunspot cycle, the sun's magnetic fields switch direction
Example sentencesExamples
The solar wind is very closely linked to the 11 year solar sunspot cycle and solar flares.
When the sun is more active at and around the sunspot cycle maximum, the solar wind tends to be stronger.
Between the mid-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the sunspot cycle shut down, reducing solar output by a mere 0.25 percent.
A solar cycle later, the polarity switches back again, so that the complete magnetic cycle requires two sunspot cycles or 22 years.
Sunspots have been observed for over two millennia, varying in number with a period of 11 years, and we have just experienced a maximum in the sunspot cycle.
These events occur during the peak of the Sun's eleven-year sunspot cycle.