太阳可见圆盘自 2022 年 6 月 8 日以来首次完全没有黑子，文中称那是超过 1,355 天前。文章表示，这种无黑子状态暗示当前太阳周期可能正走向较安静的阶段。它也说无黑子期可能只持续了两天，因为在星期二（2 月 24 日）观测者开始发现一个新出现的活动区。

太阳遵循约 11 年的周期，活动会上升与下降，而目前这一轮是自有纪录以来的第 25 个周期。文中指出这个周期在 2024 年达到峰值。它表示，在太阳极大期，黑子持续存在，耀斑与日冕物质抛射几乎每天发生；而在极小期，太阳可能连续数月没有任何黑子。

文章称黑子产生放缓很可能表示当前周期正在减弱，但英国气象局（UK Met Office）预计下一次极小期不会早于 2030 年。它也指出，在 2018 至 2020 年间的上一个太阳极小期，太阳有 700 天没有黑子，并引用 spaceweather.com。另一行则说，一个联盟在 2019 年曾预测 2025 年 8 月为本周期峰值。

The sun’s visible disk was perfectly free from sunspots for the first time since June 8, 2022, which the text states was more than 1,355 days earlier. The article says this spotless state suggests the current solar cycle might be moving toward a quieter phase. It also says the spotless period may have lasted only two days, because on Tuesday (Feb. 24) observers began spotting a newly emerging active region.

The sun follows an approximately 11-year cycle in which activity rises and falls, and the current cycle is the 25th since records began. The text states that this cycle peaked in 2024. It says that during solar maximum, sunspots are constant and flares and coronal mass ejections occur almost daily, while during minimum the sun may go months without a single sunspot.

The article says the slowdown in sunspot production likely signals that the current cycle is waning, but the UK Met Office does not expect the next minimum before 2030. It also states that during the last solar minimum between 2018 and 2020, the sun had 700 days without a spot, citing spaceweather.com. A separate line says a consortium in 2019 predicted August 2025 as the cycle peak.