Team Proposes New Space-Weather Forecasting Method:

Scientists from Skoltech, the University of Graz and the Royal Observatory of Belgium have developed a method to forecast the strength of the 11-year solar activity cycle. The results of this study may shed light into the process by which magnetic fields are generated on the sun. This is key, as these magnetic fields affect health and the operability of various earthbound devices. Following the invention of the telescope, astronomers Galileo Galileo, Thomas Harriot, Christoph Scheiner and Jan Fabricius discovered spots on the sun's disk. But it would be another 250 years before it was understood that the sun's behavior is subject to 11-year cycles. The 11-year periodicity of solar activity was accidentally discovered in the 19th century by German chemist Henry Schwabe. He was fond of astronomy, and with the help of an amateur telescope, sought to find a hypothetical small planet inside the orbit of Mercury. He never found the planet, but thanks to systematic observations he discovered the cycles of solar activity. At present, such sunspots observations are carried out twice a day throughout the year by observatories around the world and the prediction of the 11-year solar cycle is very important in many areas of human activity in space and on Earth.

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