What caused the recent increase in solar flare and geomagnetic activity?

The Sun recently had a big mood swing, and that made things exciting here on Earth.

Imagine the Sun is like your friend who’s been extra energetic and playful, they've been throwing solar flares all over the place. These are like bright flashes of energy from the Sun’s surface, kind of like when you flick a light switch really fast in a dark room.

These solar flares travel through space and sometimes hit our Earth's magnetic field, which is like a shield around our planet. When they hit it, it can cause geomagnetic activity, this is like when your friend’s energy makes you feel a little wobbly or even causes a tiny earthquake under your feet.

Sometimes the Sun throws even bigger energy bursts called coronal mass ejections, which are like giant bubbles of hot gas that float out from the Sun and can make Earth's magnetic field go wild, kind of like when your friend jumps on your bed really hard and makes everything shake.