Panel A) Time latitude diagram of the zonally-averaged toroidal field taken at r/R_⊙ = 0.718, which marks the interface between the convecting layers and underlying stably stratified region. Panel B) Zonally-averaged radial field extracted from the simulation’s subsurface layer, at r/R_⊙ = 0.938. The color scale encodes the magnetic field strength, values in Tesla. Panel C) Evolution of the total magnetic energy integrated over the whole computational domain. The simulation uses a hydrostatic initial state, subjected to small perturbations in fluid velocity and magnetic field. Convection reaches a statistically stationary state after about a year, but the buildup of a stable, cyclic large-scale axisymmetric magnetic component sets in after about fifty years, here first in the southern hemisphere. Dipolar parity is maintained here through 20 full magnetic cycles.