A new group of sunspots have developed over the last few days, and while not dramatic by historic standards, the spots were the most significant in many months as they may mark the end of one of the longest sunspot droughts of modern times - at least since 1913.
Solar activity goes in a roughly 11-year cycle. Sunspots are the visible signs of that activity, and they are the sites from which massive solar storms lift off.
The past two years have marked the lowest low in the cycle since 1913, and there have been losts of theories abounding as to the possible explanation for the prolonged minimum.
The new set of spots, named 1024, is kicking up modest solar flares. Sunspots are cool regions on the sun where magnetic energy builds up. They serve as a cap on material welling up from below. Often, that material is released in spectacular light shows called solar flares and discharges of charged particles known as coronal mass ejections. The ejections can travel as space storms to Earth within a day or so, and major storms can knock out satellites and trip power grids on the surface. Prior to the low-activity period, astronomers had been predicting that the next peak in solar activity, expected in 2013, might be one of the most active in many decades.
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