On Tuesday I wrote the post: First X-flare of the New Solar Cycle. Thomas, a reader wrote the following comment:
What I would like to see is a history of X-class flares. How they they are related to solar activity maximum progression. Well Cycle 24 had somewhat of a slow start. Now the question of course is, how quickly will it increase in terms of activity to still somehow reach maximum in 2012. That is hwy it would be interesting to correlated the sun activity of the coming month with historical progression of previous cycles. I would assume that cycle 24 will present us with unprecedented anomalies. What's your best guess.. ?Instead of posting a lengthy comment at the post, I will attempt to answer his questions here.
First of all, I am NOT an Astronomer. Neither professional nor amateur. I can point out stars and Constellations in the sky, look through a telescope to see the Rings of Saturn or Jupiter, and I try to follow the subject through documentaries and on-line sights such as Space Weather. For me to answer Thomas' questions meant researching the subject. A project that I have enjoyed doing.
