Scientists predict a substantial uptick in solar activity later this year, after the Sun's has been relatively quiet since producing a series of flares and other eruptions near the end of 2011.
The upcoming period of heightened activity will compete the so-called "solar maximum" for the sun's current 11-year activity cycle, during which the star's magnetic fields are affected by the flow of solar plasma.
That interplay between the magnetic fields and plasma can lead to increases ---or, humps --- in activity on the sun's surface. Previous research suggested there was one hump during each cycle, but recent observations say otherwise.
"If you look back in history, many of the previous solar cycles don't have one hump, one maximum, but in fact have two," solar physicist C. Alex Young, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said during a March 22 NASA webcast titled "Solar MAX Storm Warning: Effects on the Solar System."
"That's what we think is going to happen" later this year, added Young. "So we've reached one of those humps, and we think that eventually activity will pick back up and we'll see another hump - a double-humped solar maximum."
Before the "twin humps" scenario began to gain supporters, many researchers had predicted solar maximum for the current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, would happen this coming May. Now it's anticipated the second hump will likely occur sometime after that and it could last into 2014
Researchers assert the sun is in a calm phase right now, despite the huge March 15 blast of superheated plasma known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). Calm, scientists explain, doesn't mean lifeless.
The CME hit the Earth two days later, sparking a mild geomagnetic storm that had no serious effects. Past CMEs have knocked out power grids, GPS signals and radio communications.
But the effects of CME's aren't all bad. They can supercharge Earth's auroras, giving sky watchers around the world a an extraordinary view of the northern and southern lights.