Solar Cycle 24 May Have Finally Begun

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."

Re:All over? Or just in spots?

[cnettel]

The sun rotates, although with quit different speeds at the equator and the poles. For a period of 200 days, we will also get to see most of it (independently of the rotation). Unless one poses there is something very different about the side facing the Earth, no matter what "side" that is, the tendency should be quite clear. (I also think there are some space-based probes that are relevant here, but I am not sure whether any of them images the full "opposite side" of the sun regularly.)