Darter Photography

February 2026 finished with a monthly sunspot number of 78.2. This is the lowest value since August 2022 (74.6), deep in the ascending part of Solar Cycle 25. But only just, as it is only slightly below May 2025 (78.5). We are now in the declining part of the solar cycle, 15 months past solar maximum (in the smoothed monthly sunspot number) and 17 months past the highest monthly sunspot number of the cycle (August 2024, 216.0). We may well see a month with a significantly lower value in 2026. But. We are now just over 6 years into the cycle (75 months). This is as far into the cycle as Nov 2002 in SC23 and Feb 2014 in SC24. In both cycles the strongest solar flares and the strongest geomagnetic storms were yet to come. Hopefully it is the same in SC25.