Traditional Latin Mass in Maryland

Sunspot number for Sept. 5th is zero! Have a nice day! SpaceWeather.com has a story by Science@NASA which begs the question, " Are Sunspots Disappearing ?" Oh well, they were kind of overrated anyway...

SpaceWeather.com reports that the sunspot dearth continues ; no sunspots have appeared for 22 continuous days. NEW: Spotless Days Current Stretch: 22 days 2009 total: 94 days (88%) Since 2004: 605 days Typical Solar Min: 485 days Furthermore, we are within 70 days of breaking a recorded minimum set in 1913. How long will this minimum extend? Your guess is as good as mine but even the NASA scientists are intrigued . A 55-year low in solar radio emissions: After World War II, astronomers began keeping records of the sun's brightness at radio wavelengths. Records of 10.7 cm flux extend back all the way to the early 1950s. Radio telescopes are now recording the dimmest "radio sun" since 1955: plot . Some researchers believe that the lessening of radio emissions is an indication of weakness in the sun...

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...