According to the Royal Observatory of the Belgian Solar Influence Data Analysis Center, the average monthly number of sunspots in June 2023 was 163.
The 25th solar cycle was not expected to be this strong. When it began in December 2019, forecasters thought it would be a weak cycle, similar to its immediate predecessor, the 24th solar cycle. If that prediction holds true, the 25th solar cycle would be one of the weakest solar cycles in a century.
Instead, the 25th solar cycle has overtaken the 24th solar cycle and may rival some of the stronger cycles of the 20th century. The last time the number of sunspots was this high was 2003, when in addition to the number of active zones on the sun, the strongest X-ray solar flare ever recorded ( X45 ), polar lights observed as far south as Texas and CME, was so powerful that it was eventually detected by the Voyager spacecraft spreading to the edge of the solar system.
