SpaceWeather.com: Deep Solar Minimum

You have every right to ask, "what has this to do with the Catholic Church?" Nothing...absolutely nothing. However, I must confess that I am a sunspot junkie.

SpaceWeather.com just sent their weekly newsletter and this is the lead story:

SPOTLESS SUNS: Yesterday, NASA announced that the sun has plunged into the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Sunspots have all but vanished and consequently the sun has become very quiet. In 2008, the sun had no spots 73% of the time, a 95-year low. In 2009, sunspots are even more scarce, with the "spotless rate" jumping to 87%. We are currently experiencing a stretch of 25 continuous days uninterrupted by sunspots--and there's no end in sight.

This is a big event, but it is not unprecedented. Similarly deep solar minima were common in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, and each time the sun recovered with a fairly robust solar maximum. That's probably what will happen in the present case, although no one can say for sure. This is the first deep solar minimum of the Space Age, and the first one we have been able to observe using modern technology. Is it like others of the past? Or does this solar minimum have its own unique characteristics that we will discover for the first time as the cycle unfolds? These questions are at the cutting edge of solar physics.

We have been told repeatedly that climatologists are the heralds of the weather, but in the grand, long-term scheme of things, solar astrophysicists have been able to track climate for long periods. We are currently in a minimum that is approaching really historic proportions. So, what does this spell for global warming? Go to an astrophysics website and watch the fireworks there. Historic cooling is a distinct option according to what I have read.

Fascinating stuff!