Solar Cycle 24 May Have Finally Begun 72
xyz writes "NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center reports that the number of sunspots in October for Solar Cycle 24 outnumbered Solar Cycle 23 for the first time, indicating the start of a new solar cycle. Solar activity was observed to be at a 50-year low, with no sunspots for 200 days this year."
It is a very important issue to communication (Score:5, Informative)
Re:so how does it affect our weather (Score:5, Informative)
It means significant bursts of solar radiation, but reductions in other extraterrestrial radiation as it gets "blown" away by the solar surges.
Re:All over? Or just in spots? (Score:2, Informative)
The sun rotates every 25-36 days.
The different rotation rates of different parts is what causes sunspots.
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/differential_rotation.html [ucar.edu]