The Sun: solar cycle tracker

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Interpretation

The sunspot number counts dark spots and spot groups on the Sun, combined from observatories worldwide into one international series. It is the longest running scientific record of the Sun, and it rises and falls with the Sun's magnetic activity and, slightly, with its energy output. Monthly means; the 13-month smoothed value is the standard way to date a cycle's minimum and maximum, so it ends about six months before the latest month. Recent values are provisional. Global temperature: yearly averages of Copernicus ERA5 (see the air temperature page), compared with 1991–2020. Data: WDC-SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, International Sunspot Number version 2 (doi:10.24414/qnza-ac80), CC BY-NC 4.0.