Every 11 years, the Sun's magnetic poles reverse themselves. That has big implications for satellites, global communications and even astronaut safety.
It’s hard to say exactly when the reversal will happen, but it’s been slowly unfolding since the summer. Scientists won’t know for certain if the flip is complete until December 7, when the south solar pole, which we currently can’t see due to the inclination of the Sun, comes into view. When that happens, astronomers will be ready with some of the best solar telescopes they’ve got: the powerful Wilcox Observatory, operated by Stanford University; the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in Arizona; and the space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory and Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). And what they learn about the still-mysterious inner workings of the Sun could have implications for global communications, satellite operations and even the health and safety of human beings in space.
The solar flip-flop coincides with the event known as “solar maximum,” a time when sunspot activity is especially intense, leading to huge solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which send bursts of particles screaming out into space. That upheaval, known quite appropriately as “space weather,” can trigger intense auroral displays (aka the Northern and Southern lights), and even disrupt satellite communications. The worst solar storm on record, called the Carrington Event, after Richard Carrington, the British astronomer who observed it, happened in 1859. While there weren’t any satellites to disrupt back then, the electromagnetic blast that reached Earth caused telegraph wires to heat up and burst into flames.
