evidence: Related: How a giant sunspot unleashed solar storms that spawned global auroras that just dazzled us all [...] As the sun's magnetic field shifts, the "current sheet" — a sprawling surface that radiates billions of miles outward from the sun's equator — becomes very wavy, providing a better barrier against cosmic rays. [...] Scientists will be keeping a watchful eye on the sun's magnetic field reversal and seeing how long it takes for it to bounce back into a dipole configuration. If that happens within the next couple of years, the next 11-year cycle will be relatively active, but if the buildup is slow, the cycle will be relatively weak, like the previous Solar Cycle 24.