"This always happens around the time of solar maximum, " NASA physicist David Hathaway said in a statement.

CNN: Sun flips magnetic field

During solar maximum, the intense magnetic fields that reach above the Sun's surface become tangled, particularly near the sunspots.

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Astronomers consider the current solar maximum more powerful than average, but less intense than the last two in 1989 and 1979.

CNN: Sun flips magnetic field

As Holdren and Beddington note, the solar maximum, and increased possibility of a great geomagnetic storm, is fast approaching, now less than a year away.

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Her previous research had shown that, when the sun grows brighter, the ozone level rises too: it is up to 2% higher at solar maximum.

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In 2006, a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) predicted that the approaching solar maximum would be the most intense in fifty years.

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During Solar Max or solar maximum, the sun tends to exhibit more sunspots and eruptions, and jettison more solar flares, which send powerful streams of charged particles into the solar system.

CNN: Sun flips magnetic field

In the lab Cigs has a maximum solar conversion efficiency of 20.2%, better than the 16.5% of a thin-film technology that kicks the pants off the traditional crystalline silicon panels on price per watt of capacity.

FORBES: Energy & Genius

His family's Pittie Enterprises group has tied up with two U.S. firms, SunPower Corp. to make and market cells, and American Sunco to develop tracking systems which ensure maximum sunlight for the U.S. partner's solar thermal and photovoltaic modules.

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After a few hours of solar pummeling the whole thing can be broken down and automatically re-created, returning efficiency to maximum.

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