April 23, 2025

This Week in Amateur Radio

North America's Premiere Amateur Radio News Magazine

Via Southgate: Why did Sunspots disappear for 70 years?

Eos reports five decades of data revealed a star undergoing a pause in magnetic activity similar to what the Sun experienced almost 400 years ago

Every 11 years, the number of spots dotting the surface of the Sun increases and decreases like clockwork. Astronomers have been tracking the 11-year sunspot cycle for more than 400 years, using it to better understand the chaotic magnetic field the Sun puts out. (The current solar cycle, number 25, started in 2019.) The timing of the solar cycle is remarkably consistent: Sunspot numbers rise and fall, rise and fall…except for that time that they disappeared and weren’t seen again for 70 years.

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