Solar Cycle 25, page-71

A sunspot cycle as I understood was actually about 17 years in length. A few years of overlap with the preceding cycle and following cycle.

The different polarity was evidence of which sunspot belonged to which cycle.

The graphs we see that have about 11 year cycles is a graph of total sunspot count, so includes sunspots of two separate cycles in essence.

To talk of solar cycle 25 is really talking of a ‘period’ from when the sun goes from its quietest to most active and then back to quietest again.

So even though the sunspots of the next cycle have appeared already doesn’t automatically follow that the minimum has arrived and sunspot numbers will grow from this moment. It usually is a year or two for that to occur from the time of the first appearance of a sunspot with reverse polarity.