# Deciphering Solar Magnetic Activity: Spotting Solar Cycle 25

## TL;DR

This paper identifies observational signatures indicating the onset of solar cycle 25, analyzing magnetic activity bands' migration and their implications for solar minimum conditions, using advanced diagnostics and long-term observational data.

## Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of solar magnetic bands' migration patterns and utilizes longitudinal wave number variations to detect and study solar cycle 25.

## Key findings

- Magnetic bands are approaching cancellation, signaling imminent solar minimum.
- Active longitudes at mid-latitudes are identifiable and persist over multiple rotations.
- The study demonstrates the effectiveness of longitudinal diagnostics in revealing solar cycle features.

## Abstract

We present observational signatures of solar cycle 25 onset. Those signatures are visibly following a migratory path from high to low latitudes. They had starting points that are asymmetrically offset in each hemisphere at times that are 21-22 years after the corresponding, same polarity, activity bands of solar cycle 23 started their migration. Those bands define the so-called "extended solar cycle." The four magnetic bands currently present in the system are approaching a mutually cancelling configuration, and solar minimum conditions are imminent. Further, using a tuned analysis of the daily band latitude-time diagnostics, we are able to utilize the longitudinal wave number (m=1) variation in the data to more clearly reveal the presence of the solar cycle 25 bands. This clarification illustrates that prevalently active longitudes (different in each hemisphere) exist at mid-latitudes presently, lasting many solar rotations, that can be used for detailed study over the next several years with instruments like the Spectrograph on IRIS, the Spectropolarimeter on Hinode, and, when they come online, similar instruments on the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) as we watch those bands evolve following the cancellation of the solar cycle 24 activity bands at the equator late in 2019.