With the appearance of a new sunspot, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just reported that our sun is entering a new 11-year cycle of increased solar activity, called Solar Cycle 24. This event may bring increased risks for power grids and electronic communications, such as GPS signals, mobile phones, and ATM transactions, due to solar storms.

In the event of solar storms, intense materials are ejected from the sun and may head down to Earth. It's possible that these storms can bring down power grids, affect GPS signals, disrupt communication by knocking down commercial communication satellites, and even threaten the lives of astronauts with harmful radiation.

Regarding the appearance of the first sunspot, scientists say that more sunspots must appear before they consider the 24th sun cycle to be dominant, with the potential to bring forth frequent solar storms.

Douglas Biesecker, a solar physicist of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, said, "This sunspot is like the first robin of spring. In this case, it's an early omen of solar storms that will gradually increase over the next few years."