FIRST SOLAR CYCLE 24 POLARITY SUNSPOT OBSERVED

Official Space Weather Advisory issued by NOAA Space Environment Center

Boulder, Colorado, USA

SPACE WEATHER ADVISORY BULLETIN #08 - 1

2008 January 04 at 06:05 p.m. MST (2008 January 05 0105 UTC)

**** FIRST SOLAR CYCLE 24 POLARITY SUNSPOT OBSERVED ****

The first sunspot region with Solar Cycle 24 polarity was numbered by

the Space Weather Prediction Center on January 4 at 2000 UTC (3:00 P.M.

EST). The sunspot region was officially numbered as 10981.

This does not mean the new cycle has officially started; however, this

is a clear sign Solar Cycle 24 is within sight. Sunspots are tracked

because they indicate the level of space weather activity we expect.

Solar activity is forecast to reach a peak in 2011 or 2012.

Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA,

USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services

and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More

information is available at SWPC's Web site http://swpc.noaa.gov