Suns maximum phase could lead to more Northern Lights sightings NBC Chicago [Video]

The sun’s 11-year solar cycle has officially reached its “maximum phase,” according to a press release from multiple federal agencies.

NASA, along with the NOAA and other agencies, made the announcement that the sun has roughly reached the halfway mark of its solar cycle, meaning there will be increased solar activity that could last up to a year or more.

According to a press release, the solar cycle occurs as the sun alternates between low and high levels of magnetic activity. During the height of that cycle, roughly at its halfway mark known as “maximum phase,” the sun’s magnetic poles flip, causing it to enter an “active and stormy state,” according to NASA officials.

All manner of solar activity increase during those time periods, specifically sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CME’s.

Those CME’s can arrive at Earth in massive waves, and when they interact with the planet’s ionosphere, they create the light show known as …