“At the peak of this cycle, called solar maximum, there are loads of sunspots on the sun, which are giant magnets nestled in the base of the sun's atmosphere. These sunspots produce a lot of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are kind of bursts and eruptions of energy from the sun's atmosphere, and at solar minimum, the sun has none of these things.”

Ryan French · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-09

French described how sunspots at solar maximum produce solar flares and coronal mass ejections.