The Sun Hasn't Had Any Visible Sunspots for the First Time Since 2022, Hinting at a Quieter Phase

The sun's visible face has gone completely free of sunspots for the first time since 2022, giving scientists a fresh hint that Solar Cycle 25 may be moving into a quieter phase.

On Feb. 22, 2026, observers recorded a sunspot number of zero, meaning no visible dark spots on the Earth-facing side of the sun.

It was the first confirmed spotless day since Jun. 8, 2022, ending a run of about 1,355 days in a row with at least one sunspot on the solar disk. Images from solar monitors showed a smooth, featureless orange disk instead of the usual patchy pattern of active regions, according to Space.

This calm period lasted only a short time. Within a couple of days, new active regions and sunspots began to appear again, showing that the sun is still capable of bursts of strong activity.

Sunspots are cooler, darker areas caused by strong magnetic fields on the sun's surface. They act as markers of solar activity: more sunspots usually mean more solar flares and eruptions, while fewer spots often go with calmer space weather. The number of sunspots rises and falls over an 11‑year solar cycle, moving from a quiet "solar minimum" to a busy "solar maximum" and back again, Weather reported.

Solar Cycle 25, the current cycle, ramped up after a minimum around late 2019 to early 2020. It has been stronger than early forecasts and appears to have peaked around late 2024, with significantly more spots per day than the previous cycle at the same stage.

Scientists say a single spotless day does not mean the solar cycle has ended. Spotless days can still appear near the peak or during the early decline of a cycle, especially when activity is shifting between the sun's hemispheres.

However, the return of a spotless disk suggests that the sun is starting to spend more time in lower-activity states, consistent with the gradual decline from maximum.

During the last solar minimum, between 2018 and 2020, there were hundreds of spotless days, sometimes in long stretches lasting weeks. Experts expect Solar Cycle 25 to keep easing toward its next minimum later in the decade, with more such quiet intervals likely, even as occasional strong flares and storms continue to occur along the way, as per Earth Sky.