Overview

• Published September 8 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the NASA-led analysis uses long-term heliospheric records from OMNIWeb Plus anchored by ACE and Wind spacecraft data.
• From 2008 to 2025, key solar-wind and magnetic measures rose markedly, including speed (~6%), density (~26%), temperature (~29%), thermal pressure (~45%) and magnetic field magnitude (~31%).
• The authors conclude the Sun is likely rebounding from a roughly 20-year downturn rather than entering a Maunder- or Dalton-like multi-decade minimum.
• Scientists caution that the underlying drivers of these multi-decade variations remain uncertain even as near-term activity intensifies.
• NASA and NOAA plan new space-weather missions—IMAP, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and SWFO-L1—launching no earlier than Sept. 23 to strengthen monitoring and forecasting.