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The Sun Has First Spotless Month Since 1913

radioweather writes "August 2008 has made solar history. As of 00 UTC September 1st 2008 (5PM PST) we just witnessed the first spotless calendar month since June 1913.This was determined according to sunspot data from NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center, which goes back to 1749. In the 95 years since 1913, we've had quite an active sun, but activity has been declining in the last few years. The sun today is a nearly featureless sphere and has been spotless for 42 days total, but this is the first full calendar month since 1913 for a spotless sun. And there are other indicators of the sun being in a funk. Australia's space weather agency recently revised their solar cycle 24 forecast, pushing the expected date for a ramping up of cycle 24 sunspots into the future by six months." As one of the links above indicate, there was a "sunspeck" reported August 21/22, though. Reader MikeyTheK adds a link to a story at Daily Tech on the spotless record.

3 of 571 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Standby and get ready! by oodaloop · · Score: 0, Troll

    Doesn't seem to stop people from believing there are no WMDs in Iraq. "I can't find any, therefore none exist!"

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    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  2. Missing the obvious by Foolicious · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why is everyone missing the obvious? The greenhouse gasses on earth are actually CAUSING the lack of sunspots! Don't you see? Not only will greenhouse gasses destroy our planet, they will destroy our solar system, our galaxy...and beyond. More proof of the terrible consequences of driving SUVs and using air conditioning.

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    Please don't use "umm" or "err" or "erm".
  3. Re:The real reason this is News for Nerds by mrops · · Score: 0, Troll

    Don't blame bush, it is your own doing, plastic bottles, big engine cars, dependency on fossil fuel. What more evidence do we need!