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Sunspots Reach 1000-Year Peak

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the radio-signals-cringing dept.

rlp writes "Researchers at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich are reporting that solar sunspot activity is at a 1000-year peak. Records of sunspots have been kept since 1610. The period between 1645 and 1715 (known as the Maunder Minimum) was a period of very few sunspots. Researchers extended the record by measuring isotopes of beryllium (created by cosmic rays) in Greenland ice cores. Based on both observations and ice core records, we are now at a sunspot peak exceeding solar activity for any time in the past thousand years."

2 of 695 comments (clear)

  1. Sssshh! by toupsie · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Whatever you do, don't tell Al Gore about this! He will totally freak out if he learns that the sun is a bigger culprit in the warming of the Earth the than his home electricity bill. I'm super serial!

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  2. Re:What do you know by techno-vampire · · Score: 0, Redundant
    stop squabbling about what is and isn't happening, and why. Worry instead about What Should Be Done.


    If we don't know (and we don't) just what is happening for sure and haven't proven (scientifically, that is) why it's happening, how can we possibly know what should be done?

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